The Intersociety Professional Nutrition Education Consortium and American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists: what have we learned?

A significant obstacle to nutrition literacy among physicians is a paucity of physician nutrition specialists (PNSs) on medical school faculties who can effectively advocate for change in medical school and residency curricula, and who can serve as role models for incorporating nutrition into patient care. To address these issues, the Intersociety Professional Nutrition Education Consortium (IPNEC) developed a paradigm for PNSs that is designed to attract more physicians into the field; promulgated educational standards for fellowship training of PNSs; and established a unified mechanism for certifying PNSs, the American Board of Physician Nutrition Specialists (ABPNS). With a board of directors consisting of members nominated by 7 professional nutrition societies in addition to at-large members, the ABPNS incorporates broad participation by all professional nutrition societies that have substantial physician members. The ABPNS certificate is intended to be the premier comprehensive credential for physicians who wish to identify nutrition as an area of expertise. Certification is equally accessible to physicians with backgrounds in any of the specialties and subspecialties relevant to clinical nutrition. This article outlines the history and features of IPNEC and ABPNS and the consensus paradigm, training standards, and certification process they developed. We discuss achievements, opportunities, and challenges facing the maintenance of a consensus-based certification body in order to inform future initiatives designed to expand the number of physician nutrition specialists.