ABR Volunteer Roles Change With the Seasons
By Desiree E. Morgan, MD, ABR Governor
2024;17(4):1
As summer spirals toward fall, I hope you are refreshed by the more laid-back pace of life that warmer weather tends to bring. The dependable change in seasons is mirrored in the activities of the ABR, where in August we prepare for upcoming transitions in item-writing cycles, committee rosters, and leadership, as well as new projects for improvement of our certification processes. I pause to reflect with gratitude on the work of our volunteers who will rotate from their roles with us, and I am thankful for their enthusiastic support of our shared mission.
In this issue …
Outgoing ABR President Robert M. Barr, MD, looks back on his seven years on the ABR Board of Governors, and discusses, among other topics, the organization’s biggest challenges and accomplishments during his tenure.
ABR Secretary-Treasurer John A. Kaufman, MD, MS; ABR President-elect Cheri L. Canon, MD; and ABR Executive Director Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, announce plans for a multifaceted process of stakeholder engagement to gather input about the IR/DR certification exam structure.
ABR Governor Donald J. Flemming, MD; ABR Board of Trustees Chair Matthew B. Podgorsak, PhD; and ABR Executive Director Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, explain how residency programs’ structured training and the ABR’s development and administration of standardized exams work together to create a fair and meaningful certification process that benefits patients.
ABR Trustee M. Elizabeth Oates, MD, and ABR Communications Director David Laszakovits, MBA, describe growing interest in the ABR’s 16-month pathway in nuclear radiology (NR) for attaining primary certification in diagnostic radiology or interventional radiology/diagnostic radiology and subspecialty certification in NR.
ABR Associate Executive Director for Interventional Radiology James B. Spies, MD, reports that an increase in applicants for integrated IR residencies has led to a decrease in residents applying for independent IR residencies and discusses how modifications in the international medical graduate (IMG) pathway could allow IMGs to fill open positions while also making progress toward certification.
ABR Board of Trustees Chair Matthew B. Podgorsak, MD, et al. discuss the ABR’s process and timeline for evaluating if diplomates are meeting their Continuing Certification requirements.
ABR Communications Manager Rodney Campbell interviews residents Michael LeCompte, MD, and Joy Ogunmuyiwa, MD, members of the ABR’s Radiation Oncology Initial Certification Advisory Committee, about the benefits of volunteering to expand their experiences and help other early-career physicians.
Diagnostic radiologist Ken Buckwalter, MD, MBA, talks with ABR Communications Manager Rodney Campbell about his 15 years as an ABR oral examiner and question writer and the effort volunteer committees invest into writing relevant exam items.
ABR Communications Manager Rodney Campbell shares how curiosity about the exam development process and a desire to make it better led medical physicist Richard Castillo, PhD, to become an ABR volunteer and oral examiner.
Congratulations to ABR President-elect Cheri L. Canon, MD, on being named professor emerita at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and to the nine ABR medical physics volunteers who became Fellows of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM).
