Veterans Day is an important occasion to honor the people who have proudly served our country. For someone like ABR Trustee Dan Davis, MD, celebrating and serving veterans is part of his life.
Dr. Davis completed his diagnostic radiology residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego and his fellowship at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. He spent 12 years as a radiologist with the Navy. Helping fellow personnel during his service days left an impression.
“That was probably the most meaningful time of my life,” he said. “I worked with some great people in the military. It made a big difference.”
He enjoys helping veterans and their families so much that he made a career of it. Dr. Davis is the radiology service chief at the Robert J. Dole VA in Wichita, Kansas, where he also has an appointment as a professor of radiology with the Kansas University School of Medicine (KUSM)-Wichita. He also has been the VA service chief in Kansas City.
Dr. Davis has a natural connection with veterans, something he didn’t always experience with other patients in his 17 years of private practice.
“It’s always an easy conversation,” he said. “You can ask, ‘Were you in the Navy or Army? Where did you serve? Where were your duty stations?’ You can ask what they did or what they thought of their service.”
Service runs deep in his family. His father, Don, was captured in France during World War II. Both of his grandfathers served in World War I and his father-in-law put in 35 years, including time as a chaplain in Vietnam.
“There are a lot of people in my family who have served,” he said. “It’s a very important thing for me to recognize that.”
His father’s story is particularly poignant. Scheduled to become an officer and attend college, he was instead used as a replacement infantry soldier and taken prisoner during the war. He spent eight and a half months in captivity and was liberated on April 29, 1945.
“My dad was lucky,” he said. “He was a POW. Everybody else in his company was killed in combat.”
His father used VA services when he was alive. Dr. Davis, who’s also a VA patient, acknowledges that the agency sometimes comes under scrutiny, as does any large organization. But his care has been superb, including when he needs new glasses.
“I’m not a one-size-fits-all guy, and I could not find frames that fit me properly,” he said. “I went to an ophthalmology shop and found one or two pairs. When I went to the VA, I found five or six frames that worked for me.”
He also finds it helpful that the VA coordinates care among specialty physicians, allowing the agency to better serve patients.
“In a community like Wichita, when you’re in private practice, the care is fairly fragmented,” Dr. Davis said. “You see your primary care physician and then you see a specialist who has no connection with a primary care doctor. But at the VA, things are very cohesive. It all works as a system.”
Dr. Davis points to numerous VA success stories, including its smoking cessation program. The 2020 Survey of Veteran Enrollees’ Health and Use of Health Care Data Findings Report found that the rate of veterans enrolled in VA health care who identified as smokers dropped from 33% in 1999 to 13.3% in 2020.
He believes that a strong lung cancer screening program is making a difference. At the Wichita VA, Dr. Davis said 93.5% of patients who get an initial screening come back for a follow-up.
“That’s a very strong rate,” he said. “A lot of times, a patient might get an initial screen and then fall off the radar. We have excellent lung cancer screening coordinators who manage all this and keep on these people.”
Dr. Davis is friends with former ABR Board of Trustees Chair and Board of Governors member Donald J. Flemming, MD, who retired as a Navy captain in 2005 after 24 years of service. Although he never worked at the VA, Dr. Flemming appreciates the work done by the organization.
“Working at the VA is a special mission that is almost a calling rather than just a job,” Dr. Flemming said. “The patients are a group of people who have served at some point in their past and because they developed an illness or an injury while on active duty, they need medical attention. These patients deserve the best care possible from a grateful nation.”
Dr. Davis is grateful for the opportunity to help service members meet their health needs on Veterans Day and beyond.
“Veterans are very appreciative,” he said. “They don’t have a big agenda. They’re just easy to work with.”
The ABR is seeking qualified applicants for a volunteer public member position on its Board of Governors (BOG).
The ABR provides both Initial and Continuing Certification in diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology/diagnostic radiology, medical physics, and radiation oncology. Although most BOG members are ABR diplomates, public members offer distinct perspectives because they are not radiologists, radiation oncologists, or medical physicists. Public members have the same voting privileges as other members of the board and, like all members, act in support of the mission.
A public member candidate may not be a physician or a medical physicist, but medical professionals are encouraged to ask qualified individuals to apply.
Ideal candidates will have one or more of the following attributes: knowledge of health policy and regulation; service in complex organizations (including nonprofits); experience as faculty in graduate or postgraduate education; and experience with assessment and testing processes in adults. Interest or expertise in information technology, legal frameworks, innovation, quality improvement science, outcomes research, patient advocacy, or nonprofit governance would also be helpful. The ABR recognizes the value of diverse perspectives that might be offered by individuals of different races, ethnicities, and genders.
The annual in-person meeting attendance requirement is 10 workdays (full-week meetings in early fall and late winter) and one weekend day (late spring). Videoconferences, 60-90 minutes in duration, are held six to eight times per year. Travel expenses are reimbursed, but volunteer board members are not compensated for their time. The initial term is two years.
Interested candidates should submit a curriculum vitae or resume, along with a letter of interest of less than two pages, to cmoreno@theabr.org.
Physicians across the country use Breast Cancer Awareness Month as an opportunity to encourage patients to undergo screenings that help save lives. Estimates state that more than 310,000 Americans will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.
Knowledge and access are power. An article in the RSNA’s RadioGraphics journal reported last year that despite having a 5.8% lower incidence of breast cancer, Black women have a 40.7% higher mortality rate than non-Hispanic white women.
“Through Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are able to reach new audiences, including people from diverse backgrounds,” said Toma Omofoye, MD, an associate professor in the department of breast imaging at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. “While mammography screening and precision medicine have contributed to incredible improvements in breast cancer survival, disparities persist. The higher risk for certain racial and ethnic groups, such as Black women and Ashkenazi Jews, may be unknown to many women. Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to reach diverse communities to empower them.”
Along with several other duties, Pauline Germaine, DO, is an attending physician and vice chair of research and education in the department of radiology at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. She said many of her institution’s programs aim to help people in inner-city Camden. Approximately 30 percent of the community’s residents live below the poverty line, a significant hurdle to accessing health care.
“We hold discussions and workshops on stress-busting techniques and creating healing practices to support women’s health and well-being,” Dr. Germaine said. “Community discussions center on the topics of breast health and breast density, screening examinations and genetics, genomics, and managing risk.”
Her hospital’s Cooper Foundation finishes Breast Cancer Awareness Month with its Pink and Teal event that brings physicians and patients together to celebrate their partnership in the fight against cancers.
“It embraces the power of hope and the strength of sisterhood in helping women on their cancer journey,” Dr. Germaine said. “Pink and Teal is a vibrant and uplifting event where patients and providers come together to connect, recharge, and celebrate. It’s a time to honor our patients and their remarkable successes on the journey through treatment and recovery.”
Amy K. Patel, MD, a breast radiologist and medical director of the breast care center at Liberty Hospital in the Kansas City area, grew up in a small community that was served mostly by male physicians. She’s helping further diversify the field as an associate professor of radiology at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and through activities with associations and societies.
“It’s wonderful to see that we are showing a commitment to diversity in our field, particularly through initiatives from the Society of Breast Imaging and American College of Radiology,” Dr. Patel said. “However, we still have a lot of work to do to see diverse representation in the specialty of radiology and subspecialty of breast imaging.”
Dr. Omofoye agrees that it’s vital for treatment teams to identify with the people they serve. Having more and diverse women pursuing breast imaging as a career has countless benefits.
“It has been shown that diversity in healthcare teams contributes to improved critical thinking and engagement, and is associated with increased patient satisfaction, improved access, and improved outcomes,” she said.
Improving access to care and having diverse treatment teams is all about saving lives. Dr. Patel sees brighter days ahead.
“In the Kansas City Metro, we have a Breast Health Equity Task Force, where our goal is to reduce deaths in Black and Hispanic women, many of whom are underserved,” she said. “With coalition building, awareness, and boots on the ground advocacy, we can improve this state of breast cancer affairs for our most vulnerable populations.”
