Board Director News
ABPMR Announces Results of 2025-26 Board of Directors Election: New Member, Board Chair and Vice Chair Named
During the ABPMR Board of Directors winter meeting, elections were held for the one open position on the Board. Kevin Krafft, MD, was elected to fill this position. Dr. Krafft will begin his first term on August 1, 2025.
Dr. Krafft is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Medicine. He completed his residency at UT Health Science Center in San Antonio, where he held the position of Chief Resident. Following residency, he worked at UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas as an Assistant Professor before moving to Boise, Idaho where he now serves as the Medical Director of the Saint Alphonsus Occupational Medicine Work Hardening Program. He is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington and is a Senior Reviewer for the American Board of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He is Board Certified by the ABPMR in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and has subspecialty certification in Sports Medicine. Additionally, he holds a subspecialty certification in Electrodiagnostic Medicine, administered by the American Board of Electrodiagnostic Medicine (ABEM). Dr. Krafft has a STEP certification in Diagnostic and Interventional Neuromusculoskeletal Ultrasound from the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (AAPM&R).
Dr. Krafft will conclude his role as a Part I associate committee member on July 31, after serving for eight years. Prior to this, he spent six years as a Part I item writer and served as an oral examiner for 11 years. He also contributed to the 2024 Part I Exam practice analysis and standard setting as a Part I associate committee member.
New Board Chair and Vice Chair Elected
In addition, the Board of Directors elected Jeffery Johns, MD, as the Chair of the Board. He will begin his term as Chair on August 1, 2025, taking over from Sherilyn Driscoll, MD, who has served as Chair for a three-year term. Dr. Driscoll will be completing her service on the Board on July 31, 2025.
Dr. Johns is Associate Professor and Vice Chair of PM&R at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). He is the Medical Director of Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, where he also serves as the Spinal Cord Injury Program Medical Director. Additionally, he is the Executive Medical Director of the Rehabilitation & Pain Medicine Patient Care Center at VUMC. His clinical expertise includes spinal cord injury, acquired brain injury medicine, spasticity management, burn rehabilitation and amputation rehabilitation. Dr. Johns holds subspecialty certification in spinal cord injury medicine.
Elected as Vice Chair of the Board was David Pruitt, MD. Dr. Pruitt will also begin serving his term as Vice Chair on August 1, 2025. Dr. Pruitt is Professor, Clinical Pediatrics & Clinical Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. His areas of clinical expertise in the field of pediatric rehabilitation medicine include overseeing the rehabilitation care of children with a wide variety of congenital and acquired conditions that result in functional impairment and disability. Dr. Pruitt’s areas of focus include rehabilitation care in the acute inpatient setting, as well as outpatient care of children with cancer, acquired brain injury and spinal cord injury. Dr. Pruitt holds subspecialty certification in pediatric rehabilitation medicine.
Two members of the Board were re-elected to continue their service on the Executive Committee. Keneshia Kirksey, MD, has been re-elected as Treasurer, and Daniel Clinchot, MD, will remain as Secretary.
Dr. Kirksey is the Medical Director of Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of Shelby County, Alabama, where her clinical expertise is in spinal cord injury medicine, stroke, and general rehabilitation. She is a professor and works part-time in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Dr. Clinchot is professor emeritus at The Ohio State University's Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and the Department of Biomedical Education and Anatomy. He provides Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services for patients at the Ohio Department of Corrections.
