By the time Kalpana Kanal, PhD, rotates off her ABR Trustee duties in October, she will have started board appointments with the American Association for Physicists in Medicine and the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs.
However, she says that the work will not fill the gap created by the end of her days as a Trustee, which she estimates requires 20 to 30 travel days a year and considerable time in remote meetings.
“There’s going to be a big gap in my schedule,” said Dr. Kanal, who also volunteers for the American College of Radiology and other associations and societies. “In that respect, things will be a little bit calmer. Even though I recently become a board member for the two other organizations, I think they are not as intense because the ABR is exam focused and those are organization focused.”
Dr. Kanal has worked in the department of radiology at the University of Washington since 2000 and is professor and director of the diagnostic physics section as well as program director for the imaging physics residency program.
A Trustee since 2017, Dr. Kanal has been an ABR volunteer for 15 years. She started as a committee member for what she said was described to her as “the exam of the future,” the Diagnostic Radiology Qualifying (Core) Exam. She became chair of the core physics committee and was eventually approached by former ABR volunteer and associate executive director Donald Frey, PhD, to gauge her interest in becoming a Trustee for diagnostic medical physics.
“I definitely had to talk to my then-chairman to make sure that he was OK with me being out of the office so much,” Dr. Kanal said. “Once he said yes, I said, ‘OK, I’ll give it a shot.’”
One important Trustee duty is working with Initial and Continuing Certification committees from their specialties. Dr. Kanal also has served as chair of the Medical Physics Continuing Certification Advisory Committee.
She enjoys the results she sees from teaming with question writers and oral examiners.
“I think that in all the volunteering I have done with different organizations, I find the ABR the most fulfilling, because you’re seeing the direct impact of what you’re doing for exams,” Dr. Kanal said.
Exam content became even more relevant to her when she established the residency program in 2023. Working with trainees brings her volunteer duties full circle.
“I had my first resident graduate about a month and a half ago,” Dr. Kanal said in August. “So (medical physics qualifying exams) Part 1 and Part 2 have become more significant to me because I have people going through it.”
As chair of the Medical Physics Qualifying Exam Committee, Sam Brady, PhD, works closely with Dr. Kanal. He credits her involvement for ensuring that content is fair and clinically applicable.
“Dr. Kanal’s unwavering commitment to the ABR mission is evident in her tireless efforts to ensure the highest quality and relevance of our exam content,” Dr. Brady said. “Her leadership, expertise, and collaborative spirit have made her an integral part of our committee’s success. To say that Dr. Kanal is essential to our work is an understatement.”
The medical physics group is small, with three Trustees (including Matthew Podgorsak, PhD, and Jennifer Stickel, PhD) and one associate executive director, Geoffrey Ibbott, PhD. During Board meetings, they’re often in the room with physician representatives from diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, and radiation oncology. As the holder of a PhD, Dr. Kanal admits that it took time to find her voice during those meetings.
“It can be very overwhelming to put your opinions forward and speak up and feel comfortable in front of all these physicians,” she said. “Once you get over that hurdle, these are all people just like us, and they’re wonderful. There are a lot of friendships formed.”
Dr. Podgorsak, who also serves as the BOT chair, said Dr. Kanal embodies the spirit of teamwork that helps the group thrive.
“She was always one of the first to volunteer for new opportunities and assignments,” he said. “I don’t think she has the word ‘No’ in her vocabulary when it comes to responding to professional requests.”
Dr. Kanal said she hopes to stay around the ABR as an oral examiner, but she realizes that assignment won’t provide the same camaraderie and teamwork as being a committee chair or Trustee. Still, her memories of being a volunteer for 15 years will be cherished.
“I really want to, from the bottom of my heart, thank the ABR staff, the president, the BOG, the BOT, for really making this such a fruitful and wonderful experience for me,” she said. “You become your own little family, the physics family, and you are in this big family, the ABR family. I’ll miss that the most.”
