[1] Dermatologists possess expertise in all aspects of healthy and diseased skin through basic scientific research and clinical care.
[2] The ABD originally had nine directors but has expanded to 17, reflecting the increasing complexity of the field and in response to the public demand for physician accountability in matters of quality assurance.
Initial certification is attained after post-graduate medical education, and the notation "board-certified" attests to the physician's successful mastery of a body of knowledge and set of skills.
The ABMS and its affiliated boards strive for the highest standards to assure the public that a board-certified physician is current in medical knowledge and practices medicine ethically.
[3] Through periodic self-assessment of medical knowledge, communication skills, patient safety and practice quality measures, physicians in MOC continue to document the high standards they have achieved.