Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, named ABIM and ABIM Foundation President and CEO

Dr. McDonald Brings Over 25 Years of Clinical Practice Experience and Expertise in Graduate Medical Education and Research

Following an extensive six-month national search, the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Board of Directors has unanimously selected Furman S. McDonald, MD, MPH, to lead the organization. Dr. McDonald will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of both ABIM and the ABIM Foundation, effective September 1.

Dr. McDonald, board certified in internal medicine, has practiced internal medicine for more than 25 years, dedicating much of his early career to training internal medicine residents. He served as Associate Chair of the Department of Medicine and Residency Program Director at the Mayo Clinic, one of the country’s largest internal medicine residencies, before joining ABIM as Senior Vice President for Academic and Medical Affairs in 2014. Since joining ABIM, he has maintained his role in patient care and graduate medical education (GME) as an attending physician of the J. Edwin Wood Clinic and faculty of Pennsylvania Hospital, which he intends to continue.

“As a practicing internist, former program director and husband of a full-time physician scientist who is board certified in radiology and investigating breast cancer, Furman is uniquely attuned to what physicians and patients want and need from ABIM’s credential,” said Rajeev Jain, MD, FACP, FASGE, AGAF, Chair of the ABIM Board of Directors and gastroenterologist at Texas Digestive Disease Consultants. “His vision for connecting meaningful certification programs to the care that ABIM certified physicians provide will be reflected in his work with physicians, medical societies and, most importantly, patients.”

A well-respected leader in the field of GME and medical education research, Dr. McDonald has authored more than 110 peer-reviewed publications. He earned an undergraduate degree in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was a Morehead Scholar, a medical degree from Mayo Medical School and a Master of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed his internship on the Osler Medical Service of the Johns Hopkins Hospital, and residency and chief residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, before joining the faculty as one of its first hospitalists.

In a blog post accompanying the announcement, Dr. McDonald shares how his upbringing—living in rural communities across 12 states before graduating high school, as well as the opportunities that standardized tests afforded him to demonstrate his scholastic aptitude—deeply influenced his life and led him to choose a career in medicine.

“Having a front row seat observing the tremendous change in health care and subsequently ABIM over the last decade, I look forward to leading the organization into the future,” said Dr. McDonald. “I want to support all of our diplomates’ ability to demonstrate that they are staying current over the course of their career. By integrating research and evidence-based methods, we aim to enhance the quality of health care for the patients we serve. This approach not only ensures that physicians stay current with medical advancements, but also fosters continuous improvement in patient care outcomes.”

Dr. McDonald has been certified in Internal Medicine by ABIM since 2000. He is a proud member of the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine and the Association of Program Directors in Internal Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the Society of Hospital Medicine; he is also active with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and its Residency Review Committee for Internal Medicine.

He attained the rank of Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and is Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

In his free time, Dr. McDonald enjoys visiting national parks, hiking and spending time with his wife and their six children.

About the CEO Search Process

ABIM engaged with an executive search firm and established a search committee, led by Robert Roswell, MD, FACP, FACC, Chair-Elect of the Board of Directors. The search committee comprised a diverse group of ABIM Directors, ABIM Foundation Trustees and other colleagues representing a wide swath of practice settings, geographies and backgrounds. The search committee engaged in an extensive, six-month nationwide search and reviewed more than 100 applicants, engaging in multiple rounds of interviews and presentations with prospective candidates over several months before arriving at the finalist. Dr. McDonald’s selection as President and CEO of ABIM and the ABIM Foundation was unanimously approved by the ABIM Board of Directors.

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About the American Board of Internal Medicine
Since its founding in 1936 to answer a public call to establish more uniform standards for physicians, certification by the ABIM has stood for the highest standard in internal medicine and its 20 subspecialties. Certification has meant that internists have demonstrated – to their peers and to the public – that they have the clinical judgment, skills and attitudes essential for the delivery of excellent patient care. ABIM is not a membership society, but a physician-led, non-profit, independent evaluation organization. Our accountability is both to the profession of medicine and to the public.

About the ABIM Foundation
The ABIM Foundation’s mission is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policymakers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. To learn more about the ABIM Foundation, visit http://www.abimfoundation.org and connect on LinkedIn.

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