Incoming ABR Trustee Umesh Oza, MD, found his long-time employer soon after finishing his residency at Harvard Medical School.
In 2005, Dr. Oza started at American Radiology Associates in Dallas. Two decades later, he’s a partner in the practice, which employs more than 100 radiologists and serves patients across Texas.
He said there are several reasons why he has stayed put.
“I have tremendous respect for my partners,” Dr. Oza said. “They are great mentors and human beings. I’m happy to call them partners in practice and in life. I truly enjoy my job, which is best described as a hybrid practice. While I’m in a private practice 80% of the time, I’m also in the hospital with residents, medical students, and fellows. I get to teach and flex those academic muscles. It’s the best of both worlds.”
Professional variety is what made him a good candidate to join the Board of Trustees, an appointment that becomes official at the end of the month. His experience lends a helpful perspective to a group of ABR volunteers who are responsible for ensuring that Initial Certification exams are fair and relevant.
“I have a unique perspective of both academic and independent private practice,” Dr. Oza said. “I think that will be helpful for me so I can align with the academic experience of most ABR Trustees, but also be able to support my colleagues who are in the world of private practice.”
Dr. Oza is happy to join the BOT at a time when the ABR is planning the new Diagnostic Radiology Oral Certifying Exam, which will be given for the first time in 2028. As a person who took the old exam in Louisville, he sees lifelong benefits from updating and reintroducing the format to candidates.
“Experiential learning during which candidates have taken cases in a conference or with their colleagues and venture beyond basic radiological diagnoses has tremendous benefits,” he said. “I believe that this particular way of learning will last forever.”
ABR Trustee M. Elizabeth Oates, MD, encouraged Dr. Oza to pursue the role she’ll be leaving this month. She sees her colleague as a great fit as the Trustee for nuclear radiology, especially with the diagnostic radiology oral exam coming back in an updated form.
Dr. Oates has known Dr. Oza for a long time: she was program director and chief of the division of nuclear radiology when he was a resident at Tufts University School of Medicine/New England Medical Center in Boston. He also completed a fellowship in nuclear medicine at the Harvard Medical School Joint Program.
“Dr. Oza combines traditional academics with a private practice model; thus, he brings an uncommon perspective to the board,” Dr. Oates said. “Particularly germane given that the ABR is reintroducing the oral certifying exam in diagnostic radiology, Dr. Oza has considerable experience with this platform, having served as an oral examiner in Louisville, Kentucky, for six years. Dr. Oza’s personal characteristics complement his professional knowledge and skills. He is thoughtful and articulate, collaborative, and collegial.”
Dr. Oates and Milton Guiberteau, MD, a former ABR board president, were two of the primary inspirations for Dr. Oza to become a volunteer. He started his duties as an oral examiner in 2009 and was quickly “hooked.”
“It was a tremendous experience,” Dr. Oza said. “I enjoyed the interaction and privilege of assessing candidates’ radiology knowledge. I also reveled in the challenge of having a candidate who’s very nervous and would attempt to draw knowledge out of them and give them a fair chance and see them become a confident superstar.”
Dr. Oza’s volunteer experience extends beyond oral examiner and question writer for the ABR. He has been a panel chair for the diagnostic radiology in-training exam for the American College of Radiology since 2011 and was chair of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Subspecialties Milestones in Nuclear Radiology in 2013 and 2014.
“I was helping design and outline what our nuclear radiology trainees need for their education and experience and define how we could protect them in a training program, so they are learning as well as performing clinical duties without an imbalance of those two areas,” he said of his ACGME experience.
As an ABR Trustee, he will oversee multiple committees from his subspecialty. Dr. Oza plans to use this week’s fall board meeting and subsequent Trustee gatherings to learn more about successful habits from colleagues outside of his realm.
“Being around seasoned Trustees excites me to learn what they have accomplished, what they have created, and how they have successfully led their committees,” he said. “I want to find that perfect balance of guidance versus mentorship by looking at everyone else’s successes and apply that to my own committees.”
