IMG Experience Makes Him Valued Volunteer
India. England. Bahrain. United Arab Emirates. Chicago. Pittsburgh. New Haven, Connecticut. Aurora, Colorado.
An international medical graduate (IMG), Charanjeet Singh, MD, has lived, studied, trained, and practiced all over the world. Those environments and experiences make him an excellent choice to be an ABR volunteer.
“It’s always good to have diverse backgrounds and different ideas of how to get a better process for trainees,” Dr. Singh said.
Dr. Singh is part of the committee that writes questions for the ABR Nuclear Radiology Subspecialty Exam. Taking board exams as a trainee in India and as a fellow in England before going the IMG route and becoming certified by the ABR gives him a wide perspective. Like all volunteers, he also received training from the ABR before he started.
“I was given the full literature, how the system works, the platform we were going to use, and how to frame good questions,” Dr. Singh said. “We were trained to know what type of questions the ABR is looking for and what types it doesn’t want.”
Committees work as one to determine which exam questions make the cut. Members critique their colleagues’ content to ensure appropriateness for the audience. Committee members always have their audience in mind when determining what qualifies as appropriate material.
“I’m lucky that my committee has fantastic peers,” Dr. Singh said. “It’s a very friendly, collaborative atmosphere and our discussions are for the benefit of trainees.”
Writing good exam questions takes experience. Many volunteers say they need a year to produce content that isn’t either too challenging or overly simple. Dr. Singh said he had to work on making his submissions less demanding.
“Initially, I wrote very tough questions,” he said. “I had to learn how to maintain the minimum benchmark for the ABR and not be so tough that nobody could answer my questions.”
An associate professor of abdominal imaging at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Dr. Singh finds that volunteering for the ABR is beneficial to his career. Working alongside physicians from varied practice settings has many advantages.
“This is a learning experience for me,” he said. “I get to talk to people from diverse settings. Some are doing purely private practice, some are hybrid, some purely academic. I get to see completely different perspectives.”
His fellow committee members appreciate the passion Dr. Singh brings to his ABR work.
“It’s impressive to work with a dedicated physician who cares so much about continuing the level of quality that is expected by diagnostic radiologists,” said Ryan Avery, MD. “Dr. Singh has really gone the extra mile to volunteer his time and efforts to ensuring the ABR has the knowledge and resources to truly provide an extremely high standard of quality for those who practice diagnostic radiology.”
Dr. Singh was encouraged to become an ABR volunteer by one of his mentors, Amjad Ali, MD. Miral Jhaveri, MD, was the other. He met Dr. Ali while training at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
“When I landed in the States, I didn’t have much of an idea how the ABR worked,” Dr. Singh said. “Dr. Ali talked to me about it, and I saw volunteering as an opportunity to help shape the future for trainees. I wanted to stay involved in recent advancements and this is one of the best ways to keep up to date.”
When he moved to America from Dubai in 2013, he did so with the intention of furthering his career in the best possible environment.
“Every radiology trainee wants to work with the best possible machines available in the world,” he said. “When I was at that point, the U.S. definitely had the upper hand.”
Dr. Singh’s wife, Mamta, also is a radiologist. The family moved from Connecticut to Colorado last July and quickly adapted. Along with their son and daughter, the Singhs like to experience everything that their new area has to offer.
“We are outdoor people,” Dr. Singh said. “My son is 18 and enjoys snowboarding and skiing. I definitely go for camping. My wife and daughter like to go to Indian dance performances.”
After moving around so much, the family is enjoying their new home. A recent conversation with a former colleague at Yale, where Dr. Singh was an assistant professor for three years, summed it up.
“My friend said they had 18 inches of snow in Connecticut,” he said. “I told him it was 60 degrees here.”
