Board Certified in Anti-Aging Medicine Since 2007 (ABAAHP) | Dr. Ty Tallman

If you found this page from the A4M provider directory, welcome. You are checking a credential, and you should. This page tells you exactly what it is, what I had to demonstrate to earn it, and what it does not claim to be.

On December 15, 2007, the American Board of Anti-Aging Health Practitioners (ABAAHP) conferred Health Practitioner Diplomate status on me in the Clinical Science of Anti-Aging. The certificate is signed by Robert M. Goldman, MD, PhD, DO, FAASP, Chairman of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, and Ronald M. Klatz, MD, DO, its President. I earned it after two decades of practicing medicine had barely begun. I hold it today.

American Board of Anti-Aging Health Practitioners Diplomate certificate conferred on Ty Tallman, NMD, December 15, 2007, signed by Robert Goldman and Ronald Klatz of A4M — ABAAHP Diplomate certificate, conferred December 15, 2007, Chicago, Illinois.

What the ABAAHP certification is

The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) runs two certifying boards. The American Board of Anti-Aging & Regenerative Medicine (ABAARM) certifies MDs, DOs, and equivalent physicians. The American Board of Anti-Aging Health Practitioners (ABAAHP) certifies licensed clinicians from other doctoral and advanced-practice tracks, including naturopathic physicians, chiropractors, dentists, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and PhDs. A4M describes ABAAHP as the first certification program of its kind for practitioners delivering integrative, complementary, and alternative healthcare.

The subject matter is the medicine of aging well: hormone physiology and endocrinology, metabolic and nutritional medicine, preventive diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, neurophysiology, and cancer risk. That is the core of what I do every day in hormone optimization, medical weight management, peptide therapy, and regenerative care.

What I had to demonstrate to earn it

Diplomate status is not purchased and it is not automatic with membership. As A4M publishes the program today, a candidate must:

Pass a written examination of 100 multiple-choice questions focused on practical diagnostic and therapeutic skills, nutritional therapies, pharmaceuticals, endocrinology, neurophysiology, and cancer.
Hold an active healthcare license in good standing with a state licensing board.
Have a minimum of five years of clinical practice experience.
Document at least 150 hours of continuing medical education in metabolic, nutritional, preventive, anti-aging, or diagnostic medicine.
Attend two or more A4M conferences or live educational events.
Submit original exam questions with correct answers supported by published medical research.
Have no significant disciplinary history, or provide full written disclosure of any.
Maintain A4M membership and pay an annual certification maintenance fee to keep the credential active.

I met those standards in 2007, when the program was younger and the field was smaller. The certificate on this page is the original.

What it is not

I would rather you hear this from me than from a search result. ABAAHP is A4M’s own certifying board. It is not a member board of the American Board of Medical Specialties, and neither is ABAARM, its physician counterpart. Anti-aging medicine is not a recognized ABMS specialty. This certification is a voluntary, examination-based credential from the largest professional academy in the field. That is what it is, and I am comfortable saying so plainly.

My authority to practice medicine does not come from A4M. It comes from my license as a naturopathic physician under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 32, Chapter 14, which includes prescriptive authority, DEA registration, IV and injection therapy, minor surgery, and acupuncture. The board certification sits on top of the license. It does not replace it, and it does not expand it.

Why I still hold it

In 2007, hormone optimization, metabolic medicine, and regenerative care were fringe topics in most clinics. I sat for this examination because I believed that was where medicine was going, and I wanted to be tested on it rather than simply say I was interested in it. Nineteen years later, GLP-1 medications, testosterone and bioidentical hormone therapy, peptide protocols, and PRP are mainstream conversations. The field caught up. I did not have to.

Keeping the credential current means keeping the education current. That is the part that matters to you: the person managing your hormones and your metabolic plan has been studying this specific body of medicine, and being examined on it, since before most of the clinics in the East Valley opened their doors.

What it means for your care

The certification does not change my philosophy. It reflects it. Find the root cause. Measure, do not guess. Use the tool that works, whether it is natural or pharmaceutical, and be honest about what the evidence does and does not support. In practice that looks like comprehensive labs before any hormone or GLP-1 plan, a real conversation about what has not worked before, and a protocol that is individualized to you and provided through this office, not pulled from a website.

No credential guarantees an outcome. What it can tell you is how seriously the physician has taken the subject. On that question, the answer has been the same since 2007.

How to verify

A4M provider directory: search for Ty Tallman, NMD at a4m.com/find-a-doctor.
Arizona license: the Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board maintains a public license lookup for every NMD in the state.
The certificate itself: pictured above, and available to view in the office.