Interprofessional Community Clinic Offers Medical Students Early Exposure to Radiology
2025;18(2):8
Student-Created Radiology Panel Expands Services, Provides Holistic Care
By Zach Cherian, MS3
Like many of my fellow medical students, I started my M1 year searching for extracurricular opportunities that would enrich and inform my specialty interests. I wanted a specialty that would allow me to interact with every field in medicine, one that would play a critical role in patient care while integrating innovation, creativity, and technology to enhance medical practice.
After much research, I fell in love with diagnostic and interventional radiology, a passion that would follow me throughout medical school. I quickly came to realize, however, that there was one major problem facing medical students nationwide: The opportunities for early exposure to radiology in medical education are severely lacking. Although medical imaging is presented in every block and board exam, medical students are given no more than a passive, surface-level introduction to radiology and its importance in healthcare. That all changed when I had the opportunity to create the radiology panel at Rosalind Franklin University’s Interprofessional Community Clinic (ICC).
The ICC is a local, student-run free clinic that provides healthcare services to the underserved and uninsured in Illinois’ Lake County community. After being selected as the executive officer of radiology, I partnered with ICC leadership to create the radiology panel, a team tasked with the management and operations of all radiological services at the clinic. Using a comprehensive group of healthcare students spanning medicine, physician assistants, and podiatry, the radiology panel built and expanded existing ICC services to provide holistic care for our patients. Panel members not only gained invaluable experience through clinical volunteering, but underwent intense, hands-on training in various imaging modalities (x-ray, ultrasound), post-image processing, presentation, and interpretation. Additionally, panelists participated in the progression of the educational and community goals of the radiology panel, all while developing critical protocols and training modules for services and cohorts. While the panel currently operates x-rays only for the ICC’s Podiatry Clinic, ongoing expansion aims to dive into primary care, orthopedics, and OB/GYN through acquisition and training in chest x-ray, mammography, ultrasound, and CT/MR.
With the help of the ICC Leadership and my amazing team, the radiology panel grew to a cohort of over 12 students in just three months. Two years later, the panel consists of 19 active students and over 25 alumni, all having received a unique and remarkable introduction to the world of radiology. Despite our collective inexperience, we had banded together to broaden our education beyond what was offered in the didactic years of medical school. Through efforts like the radiology panel, students put into practice the abilities and information we learn every day, making us stronger and better equipped to serve our communities as future healthcare professionals. It was an honor to create, lead, and serve in such an initiative, and I look forward to the panel’s continued growth in the years to come!
Radiology Panel Provides Hands-On Experience with Doctors, Equipment, and Patients
By Adam El Hendy Gunnarsson, MS3
Much like Zach, I spent a lot of time during my preclinical medical school years looking far and wide for extracurricular opportunities in my specialty. The only problem was that my field was diagnostic radiology, a specialty that is notoriously difficult to get early exposure to in medical school. We are inundated in nearly every part of our curriculum with imaging findings, yet medical students are scarcely given the opportunity to see the inside of a radiology department until their fourth year. Radiology is a field that’s everywhere and nowhere for most of a medical student’s time in school.
Faced with these limitations, I jumped at the opportunity to be among the first to join the radiology panel at RFU’s Interprofessional Community Clinic. Expecting that our time on the panel would primarily consist only of shadowing doctors and learning about imaging, I was thrilled by the rich opportunities we were given to work closely, hands-on, with the doctors and equipment – even taking x-rays ourselves! In a few weeks, we received a crash course on positioning, collimation, and acquisition of foot and ankle x-rays at the free clinic as part of the first ICC radiology panel. We learned how to tame the ancient, temperamental podiatric x-ray machine and became active participants in every step of the imaging process, reviewing images with the podiatrist that we had taken ourselves.
For many of us, the radiology panel was our first clinical experience in medical school with patients. We navigated language barriers and inexperience, coming out on the other side with skills and confidence to start our journey into the clinical environment. Having a panel of medical students trained to take basic foot and ankle x-rays meant that more of the ICC’s patients could get the imaging they needed, filling a gap in coverage for a highly important aspect of patient care at the clinic. As I navigate third-year rotations, I look back at my experience on the panel with gratitude for the clinical experience I gained and for the opportunity to engage with and explore my interest in radiology early in medical school. Though my interest in diagnostic radiology led me to the panel, my experience on the acquisition side ignited my anticipation for my career and made me sure I had chosen the right path.
New Interventional Radiology/Diagnostic Radiology (IR/DR) Certifying Exam Process
By Cheri L. Canon, MD, ABR President, and John A. Kaufman, MD, MS, ABR President-elect
2025;18(2):5
The ABR announced last month that for interventional radiology residents completing training in June 2029, the Interventional Radiology/Diagnostic Radiology (IR/DR) Certifying Exam process will require a candidate to pass the Diagnostic Radiology (DR) Oral Exam and the IR Oral Exam.
In light of the ABR’s decision to return to an oral exam format for the DR Certifying Exam in 2028, we began seeking input and insight from IR stakeholders in May 2024 to determine whether an imbalance would be created once the new DR Oral Exam was implemented. Specifically, we wished to determine if the DR assessment, as part of the IR/DR certification process, would be adequately equivalent to that same DR assessment in the DR-only certification process. This comprehensive stakeholder input process was facilitated by a third party: Jennings Healthcare Marketing. The process focused on gathering feedback and perspectives through multiple channels as the precursor to considering possible process modifications.
Stakeholder input included three primary sources:
Individual Interviews. We started the input process by identifying several dozen leaders familiar with IR resident education, certification, and practice. Jennings facilitated these interviews.
Stakeholder Focus Groups. Given the large number of affiliated organizations in radiology, we focused on several key groups representing residents, program directors, department chairs, private practice, and community radiology perspectives.1 Jennings helped facilitate multiple structured feedback sessions with these organizations’ executive leadership. In addition, the organizations were encouraged to seek input from their constituencies.
Stakeholder Survey. We provided an opportunity for individual input and feedback through the publicly available IR/DR Initial Certification Feedback Survey, which was distributed through the ABR website, The Beam e-newsletter, and social media.
Internally, the Board of Trustees and the Board of Governors discussed stakeholder opinions and concerns. According to Associate Executive Director for IR James Spies, MD, “recognizing that many interventional radiologists also practice diagnostic radiology, it was extremely important to maintain the high standard of the certification exam process.”
Board of Trustees Vice Chair for IR Anne Covey, MD, noted that the exam needed to reflect the rigor of the training and the high level of diagnostic ability that ABR-certified interventional radiologists are expected to possess. “Beyond the skills required for safe performance of complex procedures and provision of longitudinal care, IR/DR certification is indicative of extensive training and broad expertise in diagnostic imaging,” she said.
We appreciate the engagement and thoughtful discussions we had with so many people during this time of focused stakeholder input, including the response to the survey.
The exact timing of the DR Oral Exam and the IR Oral Exam is still being evaluated. We will provide an update later this year. The IR/DR Qualifying (Core) Exam’s content, format, and timing will remain unchanged. The IR Oral (Certifying) Exam will remain the same as well. There is no current plan to increase the fees for Initial Certification for either DR or IR/DR.
1Invited groups included leadership from the American College of Radiology (ACR), Women in Interventional Radiology (WIR), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), Association of Program Directors in Radiology (APDR), Association of Program Directors in Interventional Radiology (APDIR), Association of Chiefs in Interventional Radiology (ACIR), ABR IR/DR volunteer oral examiner panels, SIR Early Career Section, SIR Resident and Fellow Section, and the Residency Review Committee (RRC) of ACGME.
Unsealed Sources, Radiopharmaceuticals, and Theranostics in Radiation Oncology Exams
By Michael Yunes, MD, ABR Associate Executive Director of Radiation Oncology
2025;18(2):7
The future of cancer care is never certain, but the pendulum appears to be swinging toward an increase in utilization of unsealed sources of various types. The ABR Radiation Oncology Trustees have unanimously voted to increase the percentage of items on the qualifying and certifying exams about unsealed sources, including radiopharmaceuticals, theranostics, and other potential therapies that may be developed over the next several years. This small change in emphasis will ensure that ABR diplomates continue to be certified in delivering these treatments in a way that is consistent with their training and expertise.
The ABR provides a single board certification for radiation oncologists. This certification includes “the use of ionizing radiation and other modalities to treat malignant and some benign diseases.” There is no distinction between the use of specific modalities such as protons, intraoperative therapy, radiopharmaceuticals, or theranostics. Additional education in specific modalities or specialization may be pursued, but it is not required to use that modality or treat specific patients.
ABR certification asserts that a diplomate has the requisite knowledge to practice independently with all trained modalities that are required by the ACGME-approved residency programs in radiation oncology.1 This includes training in the use of radioimmunotherapy [IV.C.13.h)], unsealed sources [IV.C.13.i)], total body irradiation [IV.C.13.j)], high dose rate (HDR) and low dose rate (LDR) brachytherapy [IV.C.13.l)], and particle therapy [IV.C.13.m)].
Residents and diplomates are aware that the ABR qualifying and certifying exams include questions about permanent interstitial brachytherapy for prostate cancer, HDR and LDR for gynecologic and other diseases, and proton therapy, as the exams have incorporated these concepts for many years in varying concentrations.
The role of the radiation oncologist in administering unsealed sources including radiophamaceuticals and theranostics varies dramatically depending on the clinical setting, hospital policy, professional relationships, and most significantly, local patterns of care. The ABR is agnostic regarding which specialty board certified physician delivers the treatment, provided they meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Authorized User (AU) status and follow all federal, state, and hospital regulations and policies.
Our exam content committees are always evaluating the “blueprint” to confirm that the essential content remains appropriate and relevant over time. The inclusion of this additional content is not unique, but rather the next appropriate step in the annual evaluation process.
ABR volunteer item writers work closely with various societies and are responsible for ensuring the exams reflect the expectations of training programs, the ACGME, and professional societies, as well as clinical practice.
1ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical Education in Radiation Oncology. Available at https://www.acgme.org/globalassets/pfassets/programrequirements/430_radiationoncology_2023.pdf. Accessed March 24, 2025.
