WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Burton V. Reifler, M.D., M.P.H., a professor of psychiatry at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and senior advisor to the dean, has been elected president of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) for the year 2008.
The ABPN, one of 24 member boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties, maintains the certification process for physicians in psychiatry, neurology and 11 subspecialties.
Reifler will head the ABPN’s board of directors, which works with the APBN staff and committees of specialist and subspecialist physicians, to develop certification and maintenance examinations, identify core competencies, and promote advancements related to the fields of psychiatry and neurology.
Reifler, the Kate Mills Snider Professor of Geriatric Psychiatry at the medical school and director of the Kate Mills Snider Geriatric Outreach Program, was chairman of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine from 1987 to 2001. From 2001 to 2005 he served as director of Faith in Action, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation national program on interfaith volunteer caregiving.
Reifler attended medical school at Emory University and was a psychiatry resident and Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Washington. From 1978 to 1987 he directed the Geriatric and Family Services Clinic at the University of Washington, which became a widely replicated model for the diagnosis and management of Alzheimer’s disease. His major research area was the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and depression, and he has authored more than 100 journal articles and book chapters.
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Media Contacts: Mark Wright, mwright@wfubmc.edu, (336) 716-3382, Bonnie Davis, bdavis@wfubmc.edu, or Shannon Koontz, shkoontz@wfubmc.edu, at (336) 716-2415.
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center is an academic health system comprised of North Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university’s School of Medicine. U.S. News & World Report ranks Wake Forest University School of Medicine 18th in primary care and 44th in research among the nation's medical schools. It ranks 35th in research funding by the National Institutes of Health. Almost 150 members of the medical school faculty are listed in Best Doctors in America.