ACPM Emergency Resolution to Strengthen Preventive Medicine as a Medical Specialty
Joel L. Nitzkin, MD, MPH, FACPM
October 1, 2001

1. It is the consensus of both the Board of Directors of the American Association of Public Health Physicians (AAPHP) and the Steering Committee of the ACPM/AAPHP Job Market Initiative that the future vitality of the Medical Specialty of Preventive Medicine is severely threatened at this time.
2. This threat to future vitality of the specialty is perceived as most severely impacting those involved in public health administration, with substantial but lesser threat to those involved in clinical preventive medicine and Occupational Medicine, and little or no threat to Aerospace Medicine
3. The severity and immediacy of this threat is such that new and decisive action should be initiated at the October 2001 meeting of the ACPM Board.
4. ACPM is the national organization representing PM physicians that best able to play the lead role in taking action to strengthen the specialty of Preventive Medicine
5. Evidence of this threat and the nature and severity of this threat have been documented in the following published references:
1. Tilson H, Gebbie KM. Public Health Physicians: An Endangered Species. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;21(3) (October):233-240.
2. Nitzkin JL, Falcao P, Janusz N, Aarraiano J. Report of Two Preventive Medicine Job Market Surveys. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;20(1) (January):56-60.
3. Dismuke SE, Sherman L. Identifying Population Health Faculty in U.S. Medical Schools. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2001;20(2) (February):113-117.
6. Additional evidence and recommendations for action are now under consideration by AJPM, in a paper submitted for publication by Joel Nitzkin in response to the Tilson/Gebbie paper noted above

1. That the ACPM Policy Committee and Board declare that an emergency situation exists in which other business of ACPM must be declared lower in priority to the action needed to immediately strengthen the specialty of preventive medicine.
2. That resources be immediately deployed to rapidly and fully implement the entire workplan of the Job Market Intiative (JMI) – including
1. Web site, job listings,
2. Outreach to actual and potential employers of PM physicians,
3. Outreach and liaison to other national organizations and
4. Development of postgraduate fellowship opportunities.
3. That, in addition to the JMI agenda, action be initiated, renewed or dramatically enhanced on the following fronts:
1. To convince the ACGME RRC (Residency Review Committee) of the importance of formal recognition of the non-clinical portions of PH and PM residency training programs
2. To fully engage ACPM (and possibly other PM national organizations) in
1. The APHA/ASPH project to "certify" public health professionals.
2. The CDC-associated public health workforce enumeration project
3. National deliberations on institutional response to bioterrorism and the provision of the leadership and technical staff needed to assure appropriate response in public health, academic, healthcare delivery and other settings
3. To secure and enhance funding for PM residency training programs, with special emphasis on those oriented toward development of leadership staff for state and local health departments
4. To explore both formal and informal means by which we can redevelop Public Health as a subspecialty of Preventive Medicine – and implement these means in a way that will enable us to assure state and local governments of the qualifications of PH physicians board certified in PM
5. To begin the process of redeveloping all PM training programs to meet the needs of the job marketplace and to identify the ways in which the knowledge and skills needed to fill all potential PH/PM physician job niches can be offered in PH/PM training programs, at MPH, residency and continuing education levels. This will require the following steps
1. Identifying the jobs that should require or prefer PM physicians in the job specifications
2. To identify the knowledge and skills required for such jobs
3. To develop the educational programming to teach such knowledge and hone the skills under skilled mentorship in the context of PM residency training programs
6. To enhance and accelerate development of part-time and off-site PM training opportunities as a path to PM Board certification by currently employed PM physicians and non-PM physicians who might seek such training and certification
7. To take these and other steps necessary to create a situation in which PM training and Board Certification is of substantial value to PM physicians seeking PM related jobs
4. That ACPM play the lead role to enlist the active participation of sister preventive medicine, public health and medical organizations in this effort.
5. That ACPM play the lead role in enlisting the active participation of ACPM members and their respective institutional employers in academic, public health, healthcare delivery, industrial and other settings to further this agenda.