Collaboration, Improvement, and Innovation Added to BOG’s Strategic Priorities
By Cheri L. Canon, MD, ABR President, and Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, ABR Executive Director
2025;18(2):2
The Board of Governors (BOG) approved eight strategic priorities in 2022 that codified the programmatic and operational activities of not only the ABR staff but also the volunteers. This common understanding was important because it allowed for synergy between the BOG’s oversight role and staff activities. Although the priorities are not arranged in specific order of importance, the BOG highlighted that controlling costs and improving communication were of special importance; these two areas were described in detail in the October 2022 issue of The Beam.
In February 2023, details of the remaining six priorities were publicly shared:
- Create/maintain balance in our certification processes.
- Maintain the highest standards in our assessment processes.
- Enhance service.
- Reduce risk.
- Enhance volunteer experience/engagement/value.
- Take care of our staff.
In this framework, the ABR’s programs and processes might 1) require a compromise among two or more of these strategic priorities, 2) simultaneously address two or more of the priorities, or 3) both.
At a BOG meeting earlier this year, we revisited this list and added two priorities:
- Proactively collaborate with our professional organizations. More than 50 societies across the four disciplines (diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, medical physics, and radiation oncology) convene scientific meetings, publish guidelines and clinical updates, provide continuing education, and serve the interests of their members while advancing the profession. Although the ABR is focused on assessment and related elements of high practice standards and ongoing professional self-improvement, we recognize the value of national and international professional societies that support forward-thinking research and invaluable educational efforts. Society leaders are a critical resource for the ABR when we seek input and guidance on programmatic changes that are under consideration. Professional societies also help us populate our Initial and Continuing Certification advisory committees in each of the four disciplines.
- Create a culture of improvement and innovation. This priority acknowledges and supports a defining feature of the ABR, especially since the development and implementation of remote exams in late 2020. Other recent innovations include ongoing refinements of Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA) and the introduction of enhanced volunteer tools, such as the Radiology Assessment Development System (RADS).
While the initiatives above are examples of major programmatic changes that were apparent to candidates and diplomates, dozens of behind-the-scenes efforts to increase the efficiency of the organization have been implemented over the past five years. These are intended to support our parallel efforts to maintain costs (and fees paid by candidates and diplomates) at the lowest possible level, enhance service, reduce risk, etc. (some of the priorities to which we agreed in 2022).
We acknowledge the increasingly rapid growth of technology, including AI, and actively seek appropriate opportunities to apply new tools as we look to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our processes that are not only directly related to certification and assessment but also support the infrastructure of our operations.
