Big changes could be coming to cardiology thanks in part to the work of Jeffrey Kuvin, MD, co-executive director of the New York City-based Northwell Cardiovascular Institute and professor and chair of the department of cardiology New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health.
Since 1941, cardiologists have been certified and governed by the American Board of Internal Medicine, but Dr. Kuvin has spent the last few years advocating for cardiovascular medicine to become an independent, self-governed medical board under the American Board of Medical Specialties.
"The house of cardiology has come together and acknowledged that cardiology has become a separate specialty and warrants its own board," he told Becker's. "There has been a rallying cry across cardiology recognizing that we have evolved to a unique specialty with our own training paradigms, our own guidelines, our own national databases, our own literature, our own competency statements, and that now is the time to develop a separate board of cardiovascular medicine."
The American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Failure Society of America, Heart Rhythm Society and Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions submitted an application to the ABMS to consider creating a cardiovascular medicine board. Dr. Kuvin said he is cautiously optimistic that the board could be approved as early as 2025.