Over the past 18 months a committee of American Board of Obesity Medicine diplomates has worked diligently to refine the recertification process with the goal of creating a program that is relevant, engaging, and efficient for physicians. Today, I am pleased to share the news that, based on this hard work, ABOM will launch the ABOM Journal Article Review Recertification Pathway in 2018. This new recertification pathway will allow current ABOM diplomates to maintain certification through lifelong learning that is designed to build upon the basic knowledge acquired through the certification process. It will also eliminate the high stakes exam for those who choose to follow the ABOM Journal Article Review Pathway. The new pathway will be available to diplomates due to recertify in 2022 and beyond.

In order to recertify through the ABOM Journal Article Review Pathway, eligible diplomates must:

• Earn a minimum of 60 Journal Article Review points during the 10-year certification period, including a minimum of 12 Journal Article Review points every two years. Journal Article Review points are earned by reading articles on the topic of obesity designated by the Journal Article Review Advisory Panel AND responding correctly to 75% of the post-article questions for each article. Each article completed successfully is worth 1 Journal Article Review point.

• If a diplomate does not answer 75% of the questions correctly the first time, the diplomate will be provided with a list of supporting references and have one opportunity to try a second time to answer the questions correctly.

• At the end of the 10-year certification period, diplomates earning the required 60 Journal Article Review points will need to show proof of an active medical license and active certification in an ABMS board in order to be eligible for recertification.

• Diplomates successfully completing the required 60 Journal Article Review points and providing proof of active medical license and active ABMS board certification will be exempt from the recertification exam. These diplomates will be granted another 10-year certification term.

Please join me in thanking the members of the Maintenance of Certification Advisory Panel for their effort in helping create this new pathway: Dr. John Cleek (chair), Dr. Suzanne Cuda, Dr. Sunil Daniel, Dr. James Dombroski, Dr. Shahid Hashmi, Dr. Christopher Ko, Dr. Tanya Scurry, and Dr. Vasanth Stalin.

At the same time, I would like to welcome and thank the members of the newly formed Journal Article Review Advisory Panel: Dr. John Cleek (chair), Dr. Suzanne Cuda, Dr. Samareh Hill, Dr. Judith Korner, Dr. Robert Kushner, Dr. Audrey Miklius, Dr. Vernon Rayford, Dr. Erica Romblom, Dr. Paul Sarmiento, Dr. Katherine Saunders, and Dr. Taraneh Soleymani. This advisory panel will help select the journal articles included for review and edit the post-article questions.

A formal announcement with detailed information about program implementation will be made early next year. In the meantime, we have created a page of Frequently Asked Questions on the ABOM website for diplomates eager to learn more about the process.

Sincerely,

Louis J. Aronne, MD
Sanford I. Weill Professor of Metabolic Research
Weill Cornell Medicine
Chairman, ABOM