ABPM Public Health

ABPM describes the specialty as promoting health, preventing disease, and managing the health of communities and defined populations, combining population-based public health skills with primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention-oriented clinical practice. Expect exam content spanning epidemiology, biostatistics, health services administration, environmental health sciences, and social and behavioral sciences.

Every applicant needs an unrestricted, currently valid license to practice medicine in a U.S. state, D.C., territory, commonwealth, or possession, or a Canadian province, with no license restricted, revoked, or suspended. A qualifying medical degree is also required, plus at least 15 total equivalent hours of graduate-level coursework across the five core public health areas.

No. ABPM states that undergraduate courses and coursework in medical school will not be considered to meet the graduate coursework requirement. The 15 equivalent hours must be graduate-level, and courses spanning multiple content areas must still meet the equivalent academic requirements and content of the traditional individual courses.

Use the residency pathway if you completed an ACGME-accredited or RCPSC Public Health and General Preventive Medicine residency of at least two years, including those who entered with advanced standing and completed only one year. The complementary pathway suits mid-career physicians making a shift into the field; the special pathway serves current ABPM diplomates adding one additional primary specialty.

Under the residency pathway, the year of postgraduate clinical training must include at least ten months of direct patient care involving ambulatory and inpatient diagnostic workup and treatment. The complementary pathway requires two years of supervised postgraduate clinical training, also including at least ten months of direct patient care, plus a residency year with at least four months of direct patient care.

Both require a minimum of two years of full-time Public Health and General Preventive Medicine practice within the previous five years. ABPM counts practice time through June 30th of the application year, and the practice cannot be during or concurrent with ACGME-accredited training.

It depends on the pathway. Residency and complementary applicants submit three letters, at least one written by an ABPM diplomate certified in Public Health and General Preventive Medicine. Special pathway applicants submit three letters, at least two written by diplomates certified in this specialty.

ABPM lists the 2027 application opening on March 10, 2027, and 2027 certification exam registration opening on May 19, 2027. For the current cycle, ABPM certification exam administration (except HALM) ends November 1, 2026, and 2026 Continuing Certification Program requirements are due December 31, 2026.

Documentation, not knowledge. Transcripts must be requested by the applicant and sent directly by the educational institution to ABPM, and residency verification must be completed by the program director. Candidates who wait until late in the window to request transcripts, or who assume undergraduate coursework counts, lose the cycle before sitting the exam.

Start with the domain you are weakest in rather than the one you enjoy. Epidemiology and biostatistics reward early, repeated practice with study-design and calculation items, while administration, environmental, and behavioral content is largely recall and can be cycled later. Reserve the final weeks for mixed sets that force you to switch domains quickly.