After filling numerous roles over two decades as an ABR volunteer, Cheri L. Canon, MD, is breaking new ground as the Board of Governors (BOG) president. 

Dr. Canon ran an ABR board meeting for the first time at the weeklong spring meeting in February. Even with all her experience, she said the task was a challenge. 

“Even after being there for so long and knowing everyone so well – the staff, the Board of Trustees (BOT), and the Board of Governors – it’s still daunting when you think about a full week-long meeting knowing your role is to oversee the agenda and facilitate discussions,” she said. 

Dr. Canon, who served as board president-elect for two years, moved up at the end of last year’s fall meeting in Tucson. She replaced Robert Barr, MD, who rotated off the BOG last October after spending two years as president. 

She said working with Dr. Barr helped prepare her to take the spot. In turn, Dr. Canon will be partnering with John A. Kaufman, MD, MS, who’s serving as president-elect for the next two years. 

“I really tried to channel my inner Bob Barr at the meeting because he was just remarkable,” Dr. Canon said. “While I learned many tactical and operational things from him, what was more important was his leadership style and how he engaged with the Board. I was very fortunate to be able to watch that for two years.” 

Dr. Canon has seen the ABR from many angles. She served as an oral examiner from 2002 to 2014, was a member of the BOT from 2016 to 2018, and has been on the BOG since 2018. 

The BOG is responsible for ABR financial affairs, Initial and Continuing Certification (MOC) program processes, communications, strategic planning and priority setting, intersociety relations and outreach, and application of American Board of Medical Specialty standards. Running BOG meetings means ensuring that voices are heard so that the optimal decisions are made. 

“I’m collaborative,” Dr. Canon said. “I like facilitating conversations and garnering consensus. But when the time comes, I have no qualms with making a decision and moving on.” 

She’s president of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation and chief physician executive for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System. Her leadership resume is almost too long to list. Highlights include serving as vice president of the American College of Radiology (ACR), chancellor on the ACR board, and chair of the ACR Commission on Education. She also earned ACR’s Gold Medal in 2021. Dr. Canon is a past president of the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD) and the co-creator and co-director of LEAD, a women’s leadership development program jointly developed by SCARD and GE Healthcare. 

With all that experience, she knows that each group requires a unique approach to achieve success. 

“I flex my leadership style depending on the organization and sometimes depending on the topic within the same organization,” Dr. Canon said. “I think that’s important. Approaching everything with the same uniform style is not productive.” 

There are many audiences within the ABR’s sphere, including candidates going through Initial Certification and diplomates participating in Continuing Certification. The organization also must consider the needs of its more than 1,300 volunteers. 

“We need to support our volunteers by making their engagement with the ABR very efficient,” Dr. Canon said. “We have to remember that they all have day jobs, so anything they do for us is outside of their regular work hours.” 

She’s happy with the BOG’s composition, pointing to the appointment of Toby Gordon, ScD, as the initial public member in 2019 and a wider range of backgrounds among its members. 

“We have a broad group of perspectives represented on the BOG,” she said. “We have our first public board member and more private practice, hospital-based representation. That gives us different perspectives. It’s been refreshing.” 

Fellow BOG member Desiree E. Morgan, MD, is also a colleague of Dr. Canon’s at UAB. Dr. Morgan, who has been an ABR volunteer since 1997, believes her friend is an excellent choice to help the BOG meet its responsibilities. 

“Whether in the department at UAB or while volunteering for ABR, working with Cheri has been tremendously impactful for me,” Dr. Morgan said. “She is wicked smart and a fantastic colleague. Her engaging leadership style, thoughtful inclusion and consideration of differing viewpoints, and ability to steer teams toward a clear vision are attributes that will serve the public as well as our candidates and diplomates well as she leads the Board of Governors.” 

There’s still plenty of work to be done. But Dr. Canon is happy with what the BOG accomplished during the spring meeting and looks forward to regular conversations with the group. 

“We reaffirmed many of our prior commitments,” she said. “We had some conversations around longer-term strategy. I was pleased.”