At the annual meeting of the American Board of Family Practice (ABFP), the Board elected new officers to serve during the upcoming year. These positions are president, vice president, treasurer, and member-at-large. Each new officer has served as a Board member for at least 3 years in a variety of different capacities. Three new Board members were also selected at this meeting. As the ABFP enters its 35th year of service to the specialty, it can directly trace its ability to maintain high

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... rds for its policies and examinations to the efforts of its outstanding Board of Directors. James Puffer, MD, Executive Director of the ABFP, stated, "Our Board members are essential to our success. Each is selected for his or her ability to bring unique perspectives and experience to help us examine both our policies and the issues that relate to family physicians today." The Board of Directors is responsible for making policy for the ABFP. This effort includes setting quality standards for admission to the examinations, giving final approval of all questions on the examinations, and approving the pass-fail score for the examinations. With more than 70,000 current Diplomates, family medicine is the second largest medical specialty in the United States. The ABFP Board of Directors consists of 15 members selected by the Board. There are 10 family physicians, 5 of whom are nominated through the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and 5 are nominated by organizations outside the Board or by the Board. In addition, there are representatives from 5 other specialties, including internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics-gynecology, and psychiatry-neurology. Each Board member serves a 5-year term. All members of the Board of Directors are physicians and must be certified throughout their term on the Board.