This book is the result of a commission from the American Pediatric Society in 1997 to develop a history of the pediatric specialties. Finberg and Stiehm convened a “committee to select the topics, choose the authors, solicit and edit the manuscripts.”
Most attention is devoted to those subspecialties in which one now becomes certified by pursuing a fellowship (usually 3 years following one's 3-year pediatric residency) before submitting to a certifying examination produced by the various subboards of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP). That list (and the dates of their first examinations) includes cardiology (1961), hematology-oncology (1974), nephrology (1974), neonatology (1975), endocrinology (1978), pulmonology (1986), critical care (1987), gastroenterology (1990), rheumatology (1992), and adolescent medicine (1994).