Board of Governors Getting Three New Members This Year
By Robert M. Barr, MD, ABR President, and Cheri L. Canon, MD, ABR President-elect
2022;16(3):4
At the close of the ABR’s upcoming annual meeting in October, three new members will be added to the Board of Governors (BOG). The BOG is responsible for the exercise of corporate power, business, and affairs of the ABR and works alongside the Board of Trustees (BOT), which serves to advance the quality, relevance and effectiveness of the ABR’s assessments for certification. (ABR Bylaws)
Marina Feldman, MD, MBA, works in a hospital-based practice in Manchester, New Hampshire. A fellowship-trained breast imager, she was instrumental in the hospital’s initial development and the subsequent growth of a multidisciplinary tertiary breast cancer center. She is a member of the board of directors of the Elliot Health System and was recently named to its governance committee. Dr. Feldman was selected from more than 100 ABR diplomates who were considered for an open position on the Board.
Desiree Morgan, MD, is a member of the abdominal imaging section and current vice chair of education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. A former residency program director at UAB, she is a long-time ABR volunteer and began her service on the BOT in 2018, where she currently serves as vice chair for diagnostic radiology (DR). Beginning in 2021, she led the ABR’s process to consider and propose improvements to the DR Certifying Exam, which included extensive outreach for input and discussion, and resulted in a planned transition to an oral exam in 2028.
Andrea Ng, MD, MPH, is a radiation oncologist (with a special interest in lymphoma) on the staff of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She is a long-time ABR volunteer who began her service on the Board of Trustees in 2018, where she currently chairs the ABR Initial Certification Advisory Committee for Radiation Oncology. She also serves on the ABR Professionalism Committee and will assume the role of committee chair later this year.
The BOG is also losing two members: Mary S. (Mimi) Newell, MD, has stepped down from her position on the BOG to become the new diagnostic radiology associate executive director (AED), and Kaled Alektiar, MD, has come to the end of his term and will be rotating off the Board at the close of the October meeting.
Dr. Newell has been an ABR volunteer since 2008, serving as an oral board examiner, member of the Continuing Certification Breast Committee, and chair of the Breast Certifying and OLA committees. In 2015, she joined the ABR BOT, and she was selected as vice-chair for diagnostic radiology in 2018. She was named to the BOG in October 2020. She has been a passionate supporter of the resident candidates and made important contributions to the enhanced Resident Leave Policy implemented in 2021. She will continue to represent the interests of the ABR and its diplomates on the ABMS Continuing Certification Committee. Although Dr. Newell’s invaluable participation in Board discussions will be missed, we look forward to the application of her talents and commitment in her new role as AED.
As a respected member of the radiation oncology professional community, Dr. Alektiar has been a valued contributor to the success of the Board’s mission over his many years of service. After exemplary service as a committee member, he was selected as a trustee, where he effectively led the volunteer functions (including the oral exam) and fulfilled the role of vice chair for the discipline. In 2019, he transitioned to the BOG and provided a perspective that was balanced between the need for a credible certificate and an inherent obligation to fairness in our processes related to exams and Continuing Certification. His kind wit and thoughtful wisdom will be missed.
