ABMS Conference 2026

Call for Sessions and Posters

The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is pleased to announce the call for sessions and posters for ABMS Conference 2026, to be held September 16–18, 2026 at the Loews O'Hare Hotel.

The ABMS Conference is the premier health care conference on board certification. This annual conference convenes more than 400 professionals from across the health care community who focus on assessment, lifelong learning, improvement, research and professionalism.

We invite submissions for oral, interactive and poster presentations that highlight innovative research, collaborative initiatives, and evidence-based practices advancing board certification, assessment, and the delivery of high-quality patient care.

Submissions are encouraged from the ABMS Member Board community, medical specialty societies, graduate medical education leaders, interdisciplinary health care educators, assessment and evaluation experts, and all professionals with expertise in data sharing and informatics, health policy, health systems science and medical education research, professional regulation, quality improvement, and patient safety.

All accepted abstracts will be presented in-person at ABMS Conference 2026. All Conference presenters and facilitators will be required to register for ABMS Conference 2026.

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Abstracts must be submitted by March 9 at 11:59 pm (ET).

Research and Innovations: Informing the Future of Certification Programs

  • Research, innovations, and feedback strategies to support the continuous improvement of Longitudinal Assessment Platforms (LAPs)

  • Integration of the patient experience into certification programs

  • Growth and implementation of Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) principles and assessments across the medical education continuum

    • Integration of CBME into training programs

    • CBME to assess communication, clinical decision-making, and performance

    • Impact of CBME assessments on quality, safety, and outcomes

  • Adoption of system-based practice and practice-based learning assessments across certification programs

  • Integration of health equity assessments and outcomes-based research across certification programs

  • Best practices for mitigating bias and health care disparities through certification programs

  • Effective integration of data sources to drive precision education

  • Improving Health and Health Care (IHHC) collaborations among Member Boards, ABMS Portfolio Program Sponsors, patient and family partnerships, federal agencies, and medical specialty societies

    • Development of the quality agenda for a specialty

    • Innovative programs and opportunities for diplomates to meet IHHC requirements

Board Certification and Professionalism

  • Opportunities and threats to the professional self-regulation system

  • Professional identity formation across generations of physicians

  • Ensuring trust in science, medicine, and the physician-patient relationship

  • Actionable strategies to support physician wellness and reduce burnout

  • Impact of professionalism on culture, safety, and well-being across health care teams

    • Adoption of formative professionalism assessments across the medical education continuum (e.g., Patient and Family Experience of Care Surveys, Peer Review, 360 feedback strategies, Personal Reflection)

  • Remediation pathways to address performance and professionalism deficits across certification programs

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Optimizing Learning and Improvement in Certification Programs and Health Care Delivery Systems

  • Physicians' role in the development, evaluation, regulation, and implementation of health care AI agents across the health care continuum

  • Appropriate use and ethical considerations of AI agents to optimize learning, improvement, clinical decision-making, and diagnostic accuracy

  • AI and board certification: impact on initial and continuing certification assessments

  • Evaluating the impact of AI on the development, administration, and implementation of certification assessments and programs

  • Demonstrated use cases for AI agents to reduce administrative burden and improve efficiency

  • Research and collaborations to support the development of appropriate AI regulatory and compliance guidelines

  • Impact of AI on the validity of knowledge assessment

  • Ability of AI agents to facilitate assessment of communication and procedural skills

  • Research and development of evidence-based AI competencies to guide future physician education and training programs

  • Practical solutions and emerging technologies to support teaching, learning, and assessment capabilities

The Emerging Landscape of the Physician Workforce

  • Board certification's impact on the current and future health care delivery system

  • Emerging pathways for advancing contemporary physician leadership roles across the health care continuum

  • Impact of private equity and physicians' unions on the practice of medicine, training environments, workplace cultures, and certification

  • International Medical Graduates' (IMG's) impact on the U.S. physician workforce

  • Alternative Training Pathways to maintain high standards, be responsive to emerging health care and public health needs, and ensure the delivery of safe and equitable care

Emerging Topics for the Certification Community

Download the submission guidelines (PDF).

Abstracts must be submitted by March 9 at 11:59 pm (ET). Acceptance notifications will be sent via email no later than May 8.

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