Eight years as an ABR Trustee started during a walk in the park for Anne Covey, MD.    

Dr. Covey’s invitation to be nominated was extended by John Kaufman, MD, MS. Dr. Kaufman was an interventional radiology (IR) Trustee at the time and is now ABR President-elect. He called his colleague while she was strolling in Central Park to gauge her interest in the role.   

“He said, ‘I was wondering if you might be interested in being nominated as (an IR/DR) Trustee,’” she said. “He was very clear and said, ‘There are no guarantees if you’re nominated that you’ll be selected, but I think you’d be good at this.’”

Dr. Covey was intrigued by the idea. This was in 2017, and she already had been an ABR volunteer for 10 years. But before she moved forward, she needed more information.   

“I told him, ‘If I’m making this commitment, I want to make sure that I have the time and bandwidth,’” Dr. Covey said. “But what I really meant was, ‘What the heck is an ABR Trustee?’ I immediately went to my office and started learning about what the Board of Trustees does. Then I called him back and said I would be honored to be considered.”   

After being named to the post, Dr. Covey took a low-key approach in her early days. Part of that was the respect she had for her experienced colleagues, who helped guide her through the onboarding process.   

“During my first year, the other (IR/DR) Trustees were John Kaufman and Jim Spies,” she said. “They really guided me and eased me into the role. And I was wise enough to keep my mouth shut and listen for the first six months or so. That was really important.”   

Early in her career, Dr. Covey worked at the Indiana University Department of Radiology, where she met Val Jackson, MD, who was an ABR volunteer at the time. Dr. Jackson went on to become the organization’s executive director from 2014-2020.   

Dr. Covey credits her colleague for sparking her interest in becoming a volunteer. Dr. Jackson said she’s glad her friend took interest.   

“She worked incredibly hard and was always reliable, professional, and pleasant, even in times of stress,” Dr. Jackson said. “Because I had always enjoyed my volunteer activities with the ABR, I encouraged her to get involved. She does a great job in everything she takes on, so I knew she would be a great volunteer and Trustee. I am grateful that I got to work with her at IU and the ABR and that she is a wonderful friend.”   

Dr. Covey is an attending member at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical Center. She began her volunteer career with the ABR as an oral board examiner for diagnostic radiology and subsequently for the interventional radiology CAQ. She has also been a question writer for several committees.   

Balancing work and volunteer time is a challenge. But she finds the work with the ABR valuable because of the comradery it creates. Committee members often have some of their most important conversations outside their meeting rooms.   

“I think all of us are busier and busier with our clinical work, which in some ways would seem to leave less time for volunteer activities. But the importance of the work and the collegiality with other volunteers and staff has paradoxically really been an antidote to burnout for me.”   

Dr. Covey said working on committees gave her the chance to discover elements of medicine that weren’t familiar. Her specialty is interventional radiology.   

“There are a lot of things that I don’t necessarily do that I learned about from working on different committees,” she said. “It’s been so rewarding and educational.”   

As a Trustee, she finds herself working with an even wider group, including diagnostic radiologists, medical physicists, and radiation oncologists, all of whom are highly influential in their fields.   

She believes that serving the ABR has been a two-way street: She has contributed to her field and seen increased professional opportunities.    

“Many of the people who volunteer for the ABR are the luminaries in their fields,” Dr. Covey said. “I think it likely that many opportunities that I’ve had have been a result of having that stamp of approval and being vetted by the ABR. That gives you a lot of legitimacy.”   

Four Trustees, including Dr Covey, are completing their terms this October at the ABR fall board meeting. Giving up her spot doesn’t mean that she’s reached the end of her tour. Just as when she started almost 20 years ago, she’s enthused about filling in wherever the organization needs her.   

“I don’t care about the capacity,” Dr. Covey said. “I’ll be an examiner. I’ll write on a committee. I’ll do whatever the ABR needs me to do.”