More than 35,000 physicians became board certified in 2022 — a 3.7 percent increase from the year prior — totaling a record 975,000 physicians nationwide who are now certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
Its 975,000 members represent 40 medical specialties and 89 subspecialties and younger physician cohorts show an even distribution among genders — something that is not the case for older member cohorts, the board's annual report found.
The 10 medical specialties with the most ABMS certified members are:
- Internal medicine: 262,379
- Pediatrics: 112,956
- Family medicine: 102,401
- Psychiatry and neurology: 78,638
- Radiology: 63,737
- Anesthesiology: 59,174
- OB-GYN: 53,975
- Surgery: 44,153
- Emergency medicine: 42,461
- Pathology: 32,442
The 10 medical specialties with the fewest are:
- Colon and rectal surgery: 2,627
- Medical genetics and genomics: 2,632
- Nuclear medicine: 4,341
- Thoracic surgery: 5,824
- Allergy and immunology: 6,078
- Neurological surgery: 6,384
- Plastic surgery: 8,642
- Physical medicine and rehabilitation: 12,277
- Urology: 13,519
- Preventative medicine: 14,456
Specialties not listed above are right in the middle of the pack including, head and neck surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology and orthopedic surgery.