Dr. Yashar Voted in as ASTRO President-elect
2025;18(4):9
ABR Trustee Catheryn Yashar, MD, was voted president-elect by the membership of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in July.
Dr. Yashar is a professor of radiation medicine and applied sciences at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she also serves as chief medical officer and associate dean for UCSD Health. She specializes in brachytherapy and treating patients with breast and gynecologic cancers. A nationally recognized expert in health policy and economics, she serves on ASTRO’s board as health policy council chair.
Dr. Yashar is past president of the American Brachytherapy Society and vice chair of the Uterine and Cervical Cancer Panel for the National Cancer Comprehensive Network. She became an ABR Trustee in 2020.
Dr. Ibbott Receives AAPM William D. Coolidge Gold Medal
2025;18(4)10
ABR Associate Executive Director for Medical Physics Geoffrey Ibbott, PhD, was awarded the William D. Coolidge Gold Medal by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) in July. The award recognizes distinguished careers and significant impact on the practice of medical physics.
Dr. Ibbott is a professor and chair emeritus in the department of radiation physics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He was an ABR Trustee and Governor from 2007 to 2017, including time as secretary-treasurer, and was named AED in 2020.
The award honors William D. Coolidge, who in 1913 produced the first practical x-ray tube employing a “hot” cathode. The introduction of this revolutionary tube served as the basis for the development of diagnostic x-ray tubes in common use today.
Dr. Kanal Earns AAPM Lifetime Achievement Award
2025;18(4):11
ABR Trustee Kalpana Kanal, PhD, was named the recipient of the AAPM’s Edith Quimby Lifetime Achievement Award in July. The honor recognizes members whose careers have been notable based on their outstanding achievements.
Dr. Kanal has worked in the department of radiology at the University of Washington since 2000 and is professor and director of the diagnostic physics section as well as director for the imaging physics residency program. She is also the university’s chair of the radiation safety committee.
Dr. Kanal, who has been an ABR Trustee since 2017, has served as the chair of the American College of Radiology (ACR) CT Dose Index Registry, has published more than 70 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and has made several scientific presentations. She has also been recognized as a fellow by the AAPM, ACR, and Society of Advanced Body Imaging.
Dr. Stickel Named AAPM Fellow
2025;18(4):12
ABR Trustee Jennifer Stickel, PhD, was named an AAPM fellow in July. The honor recognizes exceptional contributions to the field through research, education, or leadership.
Dr. Stickel is vice president of diagnostic/nuclear medicine physics at Colorado Associates in Medical Physics in Colorado Springs. She has served as the AAPM liaison to the Intersocietal Accreditation Commission Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography boards of directors since 2012.
Dr. Stickel became an ABR Trustee in 2024.
Experienced Diplomate Doing Her Part to Serve ‘Beautiful Field’
By Rodney Campbell, ABR Communications Manager
2025;18(4):7
When she writes nuclear radiology questions for the ABR’s Qualifying (Core) Exam, Arti Gupta, MD, taps into her more than three decades of experience to develop appropriate content.
But that knowledge only went so far to boost her confidence as a new volunteer producing questions for the challenging Initial Certification exam. Dr. Gupta started her ABR committee work in 2024 after years of considering the possibility.
“I was kind of intimidated in the beginning because I had been in radiology for more than 30 years and never had a chance to do it,” she said. “I was a little nervous about how things were going to be, but I couldn’t have imagined a better group … all the support staff and everybody. They’re just amazing people.”
A clinical professor in the department of radiological sciences at the UC Irvine School of Medicine, Dr. Gupta can already see the benefits of her volunteerism. Meeting her colleagues in person last year in Tucson to finalize their questions for the exam was a valuable opportunity.
“It’s good to be connected with various programs and give back to your field that has given you so much,” she said. “It’s a very pleasant and soulful experience.”
Her ABR work started not long before she made a big career change, moving to UC Irvine a year ago this past April from the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. The move impacted her onboarding to volunteer work as she was also getting accustomed to a new work life after almost 19 years at the same job.
Now better settled in California, Dr. Gupta is more comfortable writing exam questions.
“It does take some time to grasp it,” she said. “I’m pretty sure my questions from this year are going to be much better than they were last year.”
Ephraim Parent, MD, PhD, the chair of Dr. Gupta’s committee, said his colleague’s contributions to the group are beneficial.
“Dr. Gupta brings a palpable enthusiasm for radiology resident education to the ABR committee and is always happy to help with any project that is presented,” Dr. Parent said. “She is a team player who brings a unique insight to the Nuclear Radiology Qualifying Exam Committee. She has great attention to detail and often finds ways to improve the question writing of the entire group.”
Born in India, Dr. Gupta came to the U.S. after graduating from King George’s Medical University. She landed in Chicago to complete a nuclear medicine residency at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and diagnostic radiology residency at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
Dr. Gupta believed that she would get better training in the U.S. before returning home for a diagnostic radiology fellowship in India. After that, she added a body imaging fellowship at Northwestern.
“The quality of radiology drew me to the U.S.,” she said. “It was good over here and, in that era, it wasn’t in India. Now I would say it’s comparable.”
Her husband, Akash Joshi, MD, is also a radiologist and ABR volunteer who writes Online Longitudinal Assessment questions. They hope their two adult children, both of whom are considering medical careers, will keep up the family tradition of practicing radiology.
“It is just a beautiful field,” Dr. Gupta said.
She works closely with trainees and fellows at UC Irvine, giving her a better idea of what content should be included on the Qualifying (Core) Exam. She also makes notes on potential exam content while performing her clinical duties.
“It helps to interact with residents on an everyday basis and know the curriculum, what they’re supposed to know,” she said. “Most questions come from everyday bread-and-butter things.”
Dr. Gupta is making the most of her ABR volunteer experience. Even though she started later in her career, she gets satisfaction from her efforts.
“If I had started earlier, it would’ve been much better for my career,” she said. “But it’s OK. Better late than never.”
Alternate Pathway to Board Certification for Foreign-Trained Medical Physicists
By Matthew B. Podgorsak, PhD, ABR Board of Trustees Chair; Geoffrey S. Ibbott, PhD, ABR Associate Executive Director for Medical Physics; Kalpana M. Kanal, PhD, and Jennifer Stickel, PhD, ABR Trustees; and Sameer Tipnis, PhD, future ABR Trustee
2025;18(4):5
The ABR’s mission is to “certify that our diplomates demonstrate the requisite knowledge, skill, and understanding of their disciplines to the benefit of patients.” During the board certification process, the ABR applies several instruments to assess a candidate’s knowledge, skill, and understanding of their field. To become a board-certified medical physicist (ABR diplomate), a candidate must pass three computer-based qualifying exams (Part 1 General, Part 1 Clinical, and a specialty-specific Part 2 exam) along with the oral certifying exam in their specialty.
The usual pathway to eligibility for these exams includes matriculation into a medical physics graduate program accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Physics Education Programs (CAMPEP) followed by completion of a North American CAMPEP-accredited medical physics residency in the chosen specialty: diagnostic medical physics (DMP), nuclear medical physics (NMP), or therapeutic medical physics (TMP). The two Part 1 qualifying exams are usually taken during a candidate’s study in their graduate program, while the Part 2 qualifying exam and the oral certifying exam can be taken once a candidate becomes board eligible after passing the Part 1 exams and completing their residency. Most candidates currently enrolled in the board certification process follow this pathway.
Alternate Pathway
The ABR provides an alternate pathway for medical physicists and physicians trained in foreign countries (defined as outside the United States, its possessions and territories, and Canada) to sit for the certification exams that does not require completion of a North American residency program. These candidates are known as international medical graduates (IMGs); this broad category includes diagnostic radiologists, interventional radiologists, and radiation oncologists in addition to medical physicists. Details describing this Alternate Pathway for IMG medical physicists along with an application form and agreements can be found here.
A foreign-trained medical physicist accepted into the Alternate Pathway program must satisfy the following prerequisites:
- Have completed education (outside the U.S. and Canada) that is equivalent to the requirements of a CAMPEP-accredited Master of Science graduate program.
- Have been employed for at least one year as a qualified medical physicist in their country of origin or training.
- Possess credentials as a medical physicist in their country of origin or training.
Applicants who meet these prerequisites must then demonstrate that they meet certain eligibility requirements:
- Be employed in the United States as a medical physicist.
- Secure a Sponsoring Department Agreement for training at an institution that has a CAMPEP-accredited residency program.
- Complete and submit a Structured Mentorship Program application and fee (see below for details).
The Structured Mentorship Program is an integral part of the Alternate Pathway and is designed to prepare the foreign-trained medical physicist for the ABR certification exams. The training must take place at an institution with a CAMPEP-accredited residency program and must be overseen by a supervising medical physicist (advisor) who is a diplomate of the ABR. Having an accredited medical physics residency program suggests that the sponsoring department has access to the infrastructure needed for comprehensive clinical medical physics mentorship. It is likely that some components within a structured mentorship were part of the candidate’s prior employment portfolio in their country of origin. The ABR, however, has no way of assessing whether these employment tasks were discharged according to North American standards. Completing all parts of a comprehensive Structured Mentorship Program ensures that the candidate’s preparation and experience meets the ABR’s requirements.
A Structured Mentorship Program application must be submitted to the ABR and approved prior to the start of the program. The application must include a statement by the candidate describing their background, including education and work experience, along with a Sponsoring Department Agreement (SDA) and detailed Training Plan, signed by both the candidate and the advisor. A candidate must have their education credentials evaluated by a member organization of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES), and the organization must send the results directly to the ABR.
The program must include a minimum of three years of training (note that this is longer than a traditional two-year medical physics residency to account for the candidate’s additional engagement as an employee during the mentorship) and must be completed within six years of the training start date. It is preferred that the entire training take place at a single institution, although it is possible with appropriate ABR approval to transfer to one other institution. (A maximum of two institutions can be involved in the completion of a Structured Mentorship Program.)
Each specialty — DMP, NMP and TMP — has specific Structured Mentorship Program requirements, with examples of clinical rotations as well as other important organizational aspects to be included.
The training plan must incorporate training toward the six competencies for practitioners established by the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the ABR. During the mentorship, the candidate must provide the advisor with an annual statement describing their progress toward meeting these six competencies, and the advisor must attest that these competencies have been met before the ABR will consider the program to have been completed. The advisor must interact with the candidate on a regular basis. Same-location supervision is preferable, but electronic review for remote candidates is acceptable to supplement face-to-face interactions. Finally, each candidate in a Structured Mentorship must keep a portfolio describing their activities, which can be audited by the ABR at any time.
The Alternate Pathway has been increasing in popularity over the past decade, with seven candidates approved to start their Structured Mentorships from 2014 to 2020 and 12 candidates approved to start from 2021 to 2025. Of these 19 candidates, one abandoned the program, but 13 are in the process, and five are now board certified (four in TMP and one in DMP).
The ABR is pleased to be able to offer the Alternate Pathway as an option for those unable to be certified through the traditional route.
