Diagnostic radiology encompasses a variety of diagnostic and image-guided therapeutic techniques, including all aspects of radiological diagnosis, nuclear radiology, diagnostic ultrasound, magnetic resonance, computed tomography, interventional procedures and the use of other forms of radiant energy.

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The Certificate

As you progress through your residency and finish, you will take examinations to qualify for your first certification, which will be in diagnostic radiology.

If you have chosen to subspecialize, you can also take exams to qualify for subspecialty certificates in the following disciplines:

  Hospice and Palliative Medicine
  Neuroradiology
  Nuclear Radiology
  Pediatric Radiology
  Vascular and Interventional Radiology

Your certificate is time-limited; it is good for ten years.

In those ten years, you are expected to continue learning and improving your skills in a personalized program (see ABR-MOC ). Before the end of the tenth year (any time within the last three years of the cycle), you will take a Maintenance of Certification (MOC) exam. This is a practice-profiled, computer case-based, multiple-choice examination. The examination is distinctly different from the current oral exam. When you have completed all that is required for the MOC cycle, you are issued a new certificate. NOTE: Beginning in 2009, candidates will have a 10-year period after completion of training to obtain initial certification to.

Time Limitation for Attaining Initial Certification.

The ABR has recently implemented a policy regarding the completion of initial certification within a ten-year time frame after completion of training. If a candidate does not attain certification within the 10-year period, he/she will no longer be considered active in the examination process (some refer to this as "board eligible") and may not claim any such status.

Candidates who completed their training prior to 2004 and have not yet attained initial certification will have through 2014 to do so.

Candidates who completed their training between 2004 and 2010 and have not yet attained initial certification will have 10 years from the end of training to do so.

If initial certification is not attained within this period of eligibility, one year of additional training at an institution with an ACGME-accredited diagnostic radiology residency program is required before a candidate may re-enter the examination process.

To read the policy, please click here .

A candidate who does not obtain initial certification as of the ninth year after completion of training should contact the ABR to obtain further information. Candidates who completed their training before 2009 and who have not yet obtained initial certification should also contact the ABR for further information.