A professor of radiology, director of medical student education in radiology, and vice chair of faculty development at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Michelle Miller-Thomas, MD, traces the roots of her success to her days as a Girl Scout.
Dr. Miller-Thomas said being in scouting empowered her to take on early leadership roles, which carried over to her medical career.
“It might be something like cooking dinner over the fire at Girl Scout Camp for a group of 20 kids and their leaders,” she said. “There’s an emphasis on girls taking progressively more age-appropriate responsibility. It builds a sense of self-confidence and ability to take on things that are hard.”
She’s proud that her two daughters, ages 13 and 15, also are Girl Scouts. Dr. Miller-Thomas is a leader for both her children’s troops. Their family goes camping together, are avid archers, and, next July, she and her oldest daughter will serve as delegates at the National Girl Scouts Convention in Washington, D.C.
Seeing her children and their fellow scouts benefit from their work has been rewarding.
“I’ve had the pleasure of watching these two Girl Scout troops progress from kindergarten through middle school and high school and see them become leaders and develop their sense of self,” Dr. Miller-Thomas said.
She’s brought that leadership to her duties as an ABR volunteer. This year, she’s taking an even bigger role by joining the Board of Trustees (BOT) as the representative for neuroradiology.
Dr. Miller-Thomas believes in the importance of certification and the self-governing role that medical specialty boards play.
“ABR exams are really important in a radiologist’s life,” she said. “It’s something universal that all radiologists experience and it’s a privilege as a profession for us to be able to supervise that process of determining who meets the standards for practicing in the field and then demonstrating that to the public. I’m proud to be a part of that group.”
She and six other new Trustees attended their first board meeting in October. The gathering was a great opportunity for Dr. Miller-Thomas to meet and learn from physicians and physicists from all specialties certified by the ABR.
“I engaged in interesting conversations with my medical physics and radiation oncology colleagues,” she said. “It helped me understand more about their fields and how we have many similarities as professionals in medical imaging and the radiological sciences.”
Former Trustee Christopher Wood, MD, worked with Dr. Miller-Thomas as an ABR volunteer for more than a decade on the Diagnostic Radiology (DR) Neuroradiology Certifying and Subspecialty Exam Committee, of which she was chair.
“Dr. Miller-Thomas did an outstanding job leading the committee, refining our processes, enhancing our exam content, and mentoring members over the years,” Dr. Wood said. “Michelle is personable, honest, conscientious, extremely intelligent, and dedicated to patient care. She focused on ensuring that our exams were fair and was committed to guaranteeing that our diplomates were competent.”
One of the upcoming challenges for Dr. Miller-Thomas and her fellow DR Trustees is the reintroduction of the Oral Certifying Exam in 2028. Hundreds of oral examiners and content developers need to be recruited long before candidates take the remote exam.
ABR staff and volunteers are well into the planning stages. Dr. Miller-Thomas saw convincing evidence during the fall meeting.
“There’s been years of thought and strategy going into these changes,” she said. “I was able to see under the hood of the processes that the ABR has for thoughtfully evaluating stakeholder input and the downstream impacts of the decisions that we’re making. I saw how collaborative that process is. There are many smart, motivated people working on this.”
Lessons learned as a Girl Scout and volunteer for the organization have made Dr. Miller-Thomas keenly aware of the value of giving back. Being a scout helped make her what she is today.
“That is at the core of what I enjoy about medical education and faculty development,” she said. “I like having the opportunity to mentor and support others in their growth and help them reach their full potential by finding their passion in the area where they want to develop their careers and give back.”
