American Board of Addiction Medicine Announces 651 Physicians Newly Certified

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

January 29th, 2015/

The American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) announced this week that 651 physicians have passed its most recent exam for addiction medicine certification. The total number of physicians certified by the board is now 3,363.

The ABAM Foundation accredited four additional fellowship programs to train addiction medicine physicians, Newswise reports. There are now 27 accredited addiction medicine training programs.

“The addiction medicine field is growing by leaps and bounds, and we are gratified to see that so many physicians have chosen to become ABAM certified in order to better prevent and treat the nation’s number one public health problem,” Patrick G. O’Connor, MD, MPH, FACP, President of ABAM and The ABAM Foundation, said in a news release. “At the same time, we are happy to welcome the new fellowship programs, which will train North America’s future addiction medicine leaders. With so many physicians passing our rigorous examination, and so many completing this comprehensive clinical training, we are helping make evidence-based addiction prevention and treatment more readily available to those who need it.”

With the accreditation of these new programs, there are now 56 addiction medicine fellowship slots available each year. The ABAM Foundation says it hopes to accredit 65 addiction medicine fellowship programs by 2020.

The new fellowship programs are the: University of Kentucky Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program in Lexington; Caron-Reading Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program in Wernersville, Pennsylvania; Oregon Health & Science University Addiction Medicine Fellowship in Portland; and Rhode Island Hospital Addiction Medicine Fellowship in Providence.