Volunteer Spotlight – DR: Easygoing Approach Makes Him an Excellent Educator, Volunteer
By ABR Associate Director of Communications Rodney Campbell
June 2026;19(3):9
There are two sides to David Childs, MD. Fellow ABR volunteer Kate Maturen, MD, MS, can explain.
“He is an outstanding and nationally recognized GU radiologist who also creates elaborate Halloween decorations in his home woodshop to throw a party for his whole section,” said Dr. Maturen, who’s a member of the ABR Board of Trustees.
Dr. Childs, chair of the ABR Diagnostic Radiology (DR) Qualifying (Core) Exam GU Committee and an associate professor of abdominal radiology at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, works with his colleagues to put on the party every year.
He says mixing small frights with fun is a good way to connect residents and fellows with faculty.
“We add to the decorations each year so that it becomes progressively more elaborate,” Dr. Childs said. “It’s a popular event that allows trainees to get to know the faculty in a fun setting away from work.”
Four years ago, he built a full-sized open coffin as a service table with a skeleton and food inside. Three years ago, he used holographic projection material along with a fan-controlled smoke machine for a display at the party entrance, making it appear that a poltergeist was emerging from the clouds. Two years ago, the team recreated a scene from the movie “Aliens” in the basement of the party house.
“It was a little too real,” he said. “Several people could not get all the way through the room without turning back.”
Dr. Maturen says Dr. Childs brings that same fun energy to his committee duties.
“Dave is incredibly affable and personable, and does an amazing job connecting with his volunteers and making people feel at home in the group,” she said. “His sense of humor lightens every meeting. He finds ways to deliver feedback that lands unusually well, because it’s delivered in such a positive and sometimes hilarious way while at the same time affirming the value of the person’s contributions.”
As a committee chair, one of Dr. Childs’ responsibilities is to ensure that his team provides appropriate material for the exam. He said he and Dr. Maturen often joke about not wanting “rare, interesting” questions.
“We want them to bring meat and potatoes cases,” he said. “We work with fellows and residents and try to use that to gauge where folks should be and meet them at that expectation for exam questions.”
Dr. Childs gets real-world reaction when he walks through the reading room after his trainees take the Qualifying Exam. They usually enter the three-day exam nervous and a little unsure. But afterward, they most often say the process was a fair assessment of their knowledge.
“The exam is well received,” said Dr. Childs, who’s also vice chair of education in the department of radiology at Wake Forest. “Candidates feel that it is reflective of what they’re doing day to day and what their job’s going to be. Overhearing them say, ‘Hey, we didn’t see crazy zebra cases like people always talk about’ is satisfying to me.”
Dr. Childs’ most eye-opening moment as a volunteer came when he was asked to attend the Qualifying Exam test assembly meeting early in his tenure. The session unites subject matter experts from across disciplines who write questions for the exam.
He was inspired by meeting other talented professionals who wanted to give back to their specialties.
“It was sort of like ‘The Wizard of Oz,’” he said. “The curtain pulled back and I got to meet all these amazing, accomplished people, just thinking the whole time, ‘Why am I here? I haven’t done anything like these folks have done.’ It was very exciting getting to know them.”
Board certified since 2006, Dr. Childs has seen positive changes happen for Continuing Certification participants. He took the recertification exam in 2016 and was part of the initial wave of DR diplomates who started Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA) three years later.
“It’s been good,” he said. “You have to keep up with the times and the ABR needs to maintain its mandate of making sure folks who are certified are good at their jobs.”
Despite rotating off his committee duties later this year, Dr. Childs plans to stay involved, likely as an oral examiner. Giving back as an ABR volunteer is an important part of his life.
“The whole process starting from the Core through the Certifying Exam and (Continuing Certification) … I’m proud to be part of it,” he said. “I know I’m not a big mover and shaker, but I play my small part in my arena and that’s one of the big things I’m proud about in my career.”
