October 2025 | Volume 18, Issue 5
ABR representatives attended the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting in San Francisco in September. Photo by ABR Communications Director David Laszakovits.
Outgoing Board Members Contributed to ABR Process Improvements
By Desiree Morgan, MD, ABR Governor
2025;18(5):1
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
— President John F. Kennedy
Every October when the volunteer cycle for Trustees and Governors at the ABR refreshes, I find myself reflecting with gratitude on the legacies of some of our longest serving volunteers. This edition of The Beam shares their contributions and personal reflections with you. All ABR volunteers, but especially these stellar individuals, give generously of their time and subject matter expertise to move forward the activities of the ABR as it strives to meet the goals set forth by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), of which we are a Member Board. Also pointed out in this edition, the ABR actively considers improvements to its certification programs to be not only consistent with the ABMS standards but also supportive of enhanced value for diplomates and the public. Together with the incredible ABR staff, these dedicated volunteer leaders are critical to enabling necessary improvements to our processes. I hope you’ll join me in thanking them as we welcome new Trustees into their roles.
In this issue . . .
ABR President Cheri Canon, MD; ABR Board of Trustees Chair Matthew Podgorsak, PhD; and Executive Director Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, discuss the role of volunteer subject matter experts who define the knowledge domain, create and optimize content, and set the passing standard for the ABR’s qualifying and certifying exams.
ABR Executive Director Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, and ABR Associate Executive Director for Diagnostic Radiology Mary Newell, MD, explain how the ABR’s Continuing Certification program lines up with standards set in January 2024 by the American Board of Medical Specialties.
Click HERE to read more.
Volunteers Play Crucial Role in Creating Relevant and Appropriate Exams
By Cheri L. Canon, MD, ABR President; Matthew B. Podgorsak, PhD, ABR Board of Trustees Chair; and Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, ABR Executive Director
2025;18(5):2
To attain ABR certification, individuals who have completed rigorous prescribed training must demonstrate that they have the knowledge and skill to effectively and safely practice in the radiologic professions. This is accomplished by passing a series of qualifying and certifying exams for each of the four disciplines (diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, medical physics, and radiation oncology).
Volunteers are invaluable to the ABR because they are responsible for establishing and refining the three major elements of these exams.
First, volunteer subject matter experts define the knowledge domain represented by each discipline. Most of our volunteers are actively involved in resident education, and all are familiar with the practice within the field. They seek a balance between the knowledge required for a broad range of potential practice settings and the core knowledge one should expect of trained professionals who aspire to be certified in the specialty.
Click HERE to read more.
ABR Application of ABMS Standards in Continuing Certification Program Enhances Value
By Brent Wagner, MD, MBA, ABR Executive Director, and Mary S. Newell, MD, ABR Associate Executive Director for Diagnostic Radiology
2025;18(5):3
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) represents 24 certifying Member Boards (including the ABR) and establishes an overall framework of standards for physicians and other specialists. These standards apply to both Initial Certification and Continuing Certification (CC), but the specific elements for each specialty are established and administered by the individual boards.
The current ABMS Continuing Certification Standards became effective in January 2024 after extensive development, which incorporated changes prompted by stakeholder input to the Vision for the Future Commission:
In early 2018, the Vision Initiative Planning Committee established the Continuing Board Certification: Vision for the Future Commission (Commission), an independent body of 27 individuals who represented diverse stakeholders, including practicing physicians, health care leadership, academic medicine, Continuing Medical Education (CME) professionals, group medical practices, state and national medical associations, ABMS Board executives, specialty societies, and health advocacy groups representing patients, families and the public at large.
Click HERE to read more.
Public Member Role Was an Educational Experience
By Toby A. Gordon, ScD, ABR Governor
2025;18(5):4
When ABR Executive Director Brent Wagner, MD. MBA, reached out to me six years ago about the public member opportunity on the ABR Board of Governors (BOG), I said without hesitation that yes, I was interested. He went on to describe the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) vision around Continuing Certification and sent me some documents to read. This was new territory to me, but I remained interested. Despite over 40 years in health care as a hospital executive and professor at Johns Hopkins University, the role of a certifying board was not an area I had studied. I wanted to better understand this piece of the puzzle of the U.S. healthcare system.
I attended my first BOG meeting in 2019 as the initial public member. From day one, I —along with my many questions — was welcomed by the other governors. John Kaufman, MD, MS, was quick to say, “You’re one of us”; Cheri Canon, MD, reached out to get to know me at the cocktail reception; and Don Flemming, MD, and I struck up a fast friendship despite our often-opposing political views.
Click HERE to read more.
Six Trustees Join the ABR Board
By Matthew B. Podgorsak, PhD, ABR Board of Trustees Chair
2025;18(5):5
The ABR is pleased to welcome six new Trustees this month.
John Fritz Angle, MD (interventional radiology/diagnostic radiology), Isabel Cortopassi, MD (diagnostic radiology cardiothoracic imaging), Jeff M. Michalski, MD, MBA (radiation oncology), Michelle Miller-Thomas, MD (diagnostic radiology neuroradiology), Sameer Tipnis, PhD (diagnostic medical physics), and Darryl Zuckerman, MD (interventional radiology/diagnostic radiology) joined the Board of Trustees (BOT) at the conclusion of the fall Board meeting. Sherwin Chan, MD, PhD, started March 1 as the diagnostic radiology pediatrics representative.
Dr. Angle is a professor of radiology and medical imaging and director of the division of vascular and interventional radiology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine in Omaha. Dr. Angle completed a diagnostic radiology residency at Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and a fellowship in interventional radiology at the University of Virginia.
Click HERE to read more.
Trustee Excited to Welcome IR/DR Trustees to Board
By Anne Covey, MD, ABR Trustee
2025;18(5):6
As yearly transitions take shape, with summer easing into fall and kids going back to school, it is also a time of change at the American Board of Radiology. I have had the incredible honor of serving as a member of the ABR Board of Trustees (BOT) for the last eight years, primarily overseeing the IR/DR exam writing committees and the IR/DR Oral Certifying Exam. Working side by side with outstanding leaders like John Kaufman, MD, MS, Jim Spies, MD, MPH, and Jeanne Laberge, MD, who came before me, and with Vicki Marx, MD, and Paul Rochon, MD, who came after, has been a true highlight of my career. In our next transition, I am excited to welcome two new Trustees to the group: the very capable Darryl Zuckerman, MD, and John Fritz Angle, MD.
A lot has happened since I joined the BOT in 2017. That year, the ABR transitioned the subspecialty certificate in interventional radiology to the specialty IR/DR certificate. Only a few years later, the ABR was forced by COVID to move to remote exams — and successfully created a new platform that allowed more flexibility for candidates, minimized travel, and at long last put an end to conducting oral exams in hotel rooms. This was time sensitive and incredibly important to get right. It took a herculean effort by the Exam Delivery and IT teams to make it happen. Now the Board is gearing up for another important challenge: the new Diagnostic Radiology Oral Exam that will be required of both DR and IR/DR candidates.
Click HERE to read more.
Certification in Additional Medical Physics Specialties
By Geoffrey S. Ibbott, PhD, ABR Associate Executive Director for Medical Physics; Kalpana M. Kanal, PhD, ABR Trustee; Matthew B. Podgorsak, PhD, ABR Board of Trustees Chair; and Jennifer Stickel, PhD, ABR Trustee
2025;18(5):7
Medical physicists sometimes find it valuable to acquire certification in more than one specialty. In fact, as of late September, 273 medical physicists are certified in two specialties, and 30 are certified in all three; some of the latter group hold the legacy “Radiological Physics” certificate, now discontinued. Perhaps most common is to become dual certified in diagnostic medical physics (DMP) and nuclear medical physics (NMP), but combinations with therapeutic medical physics (TMP) also occur frequently.
There are essentially two pathways to acquiring an additional certificate:
- A medical physicist trainee can enroll in a “2+1” residency program to receive training in both DMP and NMP.
- A medical physicist who is certified in one specialty can acquire a year of training (fellowship training) in an additional specialty.
Click HERE to read more.
Our Three ABMS Scholars Look Forward to the Opportunity
By Rodney Campbell, ABR Communications Manager
2025;18(5):8
For the third time, the ABR is sponsoring research by early career physicians and physicists through the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) Scholars program.
This year’s record class includes three ABR awardees, each of whom will receive a $15,000 grant from the ABR. We asked them for their thoughts on being selected and what they hope to accomplish.
Abdullah Alshreef, PhD, MS, MSc
Therapeutic medical physics resident, Loma Linda University Medical Center
Research subject: “Enhancing Clinical Readiness and Board Exam Preparation Through Virtual Education Resources for Medical Physics”
“What excites me most about the ABMS program is the opportunity to design a more inclusive and scalable model for board exam preparation — one that can help future medical physicists make the transition to independent practice with confidence. I see this as a chance to learn from leaders in medical education, expand my professional network, and strengthen my ability to build initiatives that reduce language and access barriers. I believe this program will help me move closer to my goal of creating a global platform for standardized education — one that advances equity, fosters collaboration, and improves patient care worldwide.”
Click HERE to read more.
No Question He Brought Skills to His Volunteer Assignment
By Rodney Campbell, ABR Communications Manager
2025;18(5):9
If there were a job description used when the ABR seeks volunteers to write exam questions, it would include the disclaimer, “No prior experience required.”
Jeffrey Cruz, MD, is an exception.
Dr. Cruz, who writes vascular and interventional radiology questions for the Diagnostic Radiology Qualifying (Core) Exam, came to the ABR with a background in the skill. As an assistant residency program director for interventional radiology at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, he established and developed content for an end-of-rotation exam for his trainees.
“Having taken the boards, I had an idea of what it was like,” he said. “When I started doing it, I realized I liked it. It was just a little puzzle, a little game, and it also had a point. After that, I decided I wanted to try it on the ABR level and applied.”
Now an assistant professor for clinical radiology at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and assistant professor for diagnostic imaging at Fox Chase Cancer Center, Dr. Cruz started as an ABR volunteer in 2021.
Click HERE to read more.
His Exam Questions Treat Candidates with No Tricks
By Rodney Campbell, ABR Communications Manager
2025;18(5):10
From the perspective of Dan Krauss, MD, candidates for board certification sometimes get the wrong impression when they’re preparing for ABR exams.
Exams are nerve-wracking events but, Dr. Krauss said, volunteers want examinees to pass and have successful careers. The Initial Certification process is a barometer to measure candidate knowledge, not a process loaded with trick questions designed to foil examinees.
“I think it’s human nature to see this adversarial sort of interaction where we’re asking questions and trying to stump you,” he said. “It’s really the complete opposite.”
Dr. Krauss, an associate professor and section head of brachytherapy at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, has been an ABR volunteer for 13 years, writing GU questions for the Radiation Oncology Qualifying Exam and serving as an oral examiner.
Writing effective exam questions is something people who are new to the process need to work on to become proficient. Dr. Krauss said experience teaches volunteers what makes a question fair and relevant for candidates.
Click HERE to read more.
ABR President Receives ACR’s Lawrence R. Muroff Luminary Award
2025;18(5):11
ABR President Cheri L. Canon, MD, recently received the 2025 Lawrence R. Muroff Luminary Award from the American College of Radiology’s Radiology Leadership Institute (RLI) for her “exceptional lifetime achievements, innovation, leadership, and service to the radiology medical specialty.”
Dr. Canon is president of the University of Alabama Health Services Foundation (HSF), chief physician executive of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Health System, and professor emerita in the UAB Heersink School of Medicine Department of Radiology. She sits on the UAB Medicine Joint Operating Leadership Council and is a Trustee on the HSF Board.
An ABR volunteer since 2002, Dr. Canon has served as an oral examiner and Trustee, and now sits on the Board of Governors as president.
She completed her undergraduate training at the University of Texas at Austin, followed by medical school at the University of Texas Medical Branch. After completing her residency training in diagnostic radiology at UAB, she joined the faculty in the abdominal imaging section.
Click HERE to read more.
October 7 Blog
Future Resident Rotates Toward Interventional Radiology
September 30 Blog
He’s Proud to Serve His Country and Profession
September 23 Blog
She’ll Miss Her ‘ABR Family’ When Trustee Tenure Ends
September 16 Blog
Trustee Appreciates Value of New Volunteers Assuming ABR Roles
August 26 Blog
Volunteer Enjoyed First-Hand View of ABR’s Pivot to Remote Exams
August 19 Blog
ABR Trustee Selected as ASTRO President-elect
