As president of the Association of Program Directors in Interventional Radiology (APDIR), Quinn Meisinger, MD, has a keen interest in the ABR’s Initial Certification process.

He gained more of a voice recently by joining the ABR Interventional Radiology Initial Certification Advisory Committee. The group, which includes physicians from many career stages, serves as a connection between candidates and the ABR. 

“With all the things that (the APDIR does) for program directors and IR residency as a whole, it made sense to be part of the committee,” he said. 

Joining as an APDIR representative is another opportunity for Dr. Meisinger to serve his profession’s trainees and early career physicians. He has been the director of independent and integrated interventional radiology residencies within the UC San Diego Department of Radiology since 2019.

One of the committee’s ongoing tasks will be to offer opinions about a recent change to the IR/DR Certifying Exam process. Candidates seeking certification in 2029 or later will need to take both the IR/DR and DR oral exams. The current computer-based IR/DR Certifying Exam will be discontinued at that time.

The ABR made the adjustment after soliciting and receiving feedback from dozens of diplomates representing IR/DR associations and societies last year. Dr. Meisinger understands the need for change.

“If I’m sitting next to my partner who is DR certified, then I, as an IR physician, should have the same amount of DR certification. This is important from an optics standpoint as well for the patient population that we serve,” he said. 

Timing will be everything. As a program director, Dr. Meisinger wants to ensure that candidates have sufficient time to prepare for and take two oral exams while also performing clinical duties. 

“I think IR orals will stay where they are (in regard to timing), but when do we hold this DR oral exam within IR residency/training?” he said. “That’s probably the biggest thing that we have to figure out. We need to make sure they are timed synergistically to make it work for trainees and programs.” 

Dr. Meisinger became a program director in 2019, two years after completing an IR fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he served as chief fellow. He completed residency training at UC San Diego School of Medicine after earning his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine. 

As a physician who started working with residents not long after finishing his training, Dr. Meisinger feels particularly proud when his trainees complete the program and start their independent careers. It wasn’t that long ago that he was in their shoes. 

“When you see them grow and become great physicians over the course of their years of training with us, it’s pretty phenomenal,” he said. “It’s always a little bittersweet when everybody leaves … you put so much time into developing residents. It’s also very gratifying. I’m lucky to have the position and I hope to keep it going.” 

As well as working with trainees, Dr. Meisinger performs clinical procedures and sees patients. He said he also puts in a couple of hours each week reading emergency department images to keep his DR abilities sharp. 

“It’s like riding a bike,” he said. “I recognize that and try to maintain my skills.” 

Dr. Meisinger will start doing double duty next year as an IR/DR oral examiner. He wasn’t available when invited this year because he was part of a friend’s wedding when the exam took place. 

“When you get brought on (as an ABR volunteer), you have to do it,” he said. “I’m excited to start.” 

The IR Initial Certification Advisory Committee likely will be getting together in Tucson this fall. If that meeting happens, the new certifying exam process will no doubt be discussed. The team’s feedback will be important. 

“It’s the top priority,” Dr. Meisinger said. “I think we’re entrenched in terms of exam content. IR is leading the way with a pre-existing oral exam that is pretty comprehensive. DR’s oral exam addition will provide what’s needed from the IR/DR certification perspective. Although it will be difficult to find an ideal time in training, I think it will be a positive step for the specialty.”

Reed Dunnick, MD, doesn’t plan to slow down much after he retires from the University of Michigan on August 31. Technically, he isn’t even leaving the department of radiology, where he has spent the past 33 years. 

The former ABR volunteer and part-time staffer will be coming to the Ann Arbor campus even more often as he researches and writes a book about the university’s department of radiology history. With reams of subject matter on campus, he’ll be in his office at least three days a week instead of his customary day or two as he puts the book together over the next year. 

“I’m going to be reaching out to people, trying to fill in blanks,” Dr. Dunnick said. “I want a little more human interest in the book rather than simply dates and activities.” 

Plans for the book include use by the department’s development team as a leave-behind for potential donors and as a feature on the website. This won’t be the first time Dr. Dunnick has been part of such a project. He was board president when the ABR’s 75th anniversary book was published in 2009. 

Author Otha Linton produced that book the old-fashioned way, making editing a challenge. 

“He would interview people and get their perspective, and he did a terrific job,” Dr. Dunnick said. “On the other hand, he used a typewriter, so I couldn’t even edit the book electronically.” 

Since leaving his post as chair of the university’s radiology department in 2018 after 26 years, Dr. Dunnick has served as a professor in the division of abdominal radiology and editor of the journal Academic Radiology, a post he assumed in 2017. 

He’s also stepping down from that work, which requires 50 or more hours a week. Thanks to more international submissions, Dr. Dunnick said the journal has gone from an average of 800 potential articles per year to more than 5,000. 

“The journal never sleeps,” he said. “We get more submissions from China than from any other country. So, when I turn off the computer and go to bed at night, I’m all caught up. I wake up the next morning and have a slew  of new submissions. Every time I travel, I have  my laptop with me. If I didn’t, I would be horrendously behind.” 

His Academic Radiology work cut short his time as the ABR associate executive director (AED) for diagnostic radiology. The ABR position is part time, usually around 20 hours a week. Each of the four disciplines that the ABR certifies has an AED — a physician or physicist who serves as an extension of the executive director. 

Dr. Dunnick was AED from 2019 to 2023 and had to leave because of other work demands. 

“Over time, the submissions to Academic Radiology were making it harder and harder to do both,” he said. 

Exiting his AED position marked at least a pause in Dr. Dunnick’s involvement with the ABR. He began as a volunteer when he was on faculty at Duke University in the 1980s. Four decades later, he still appreciates the important role that the ABR and other American Board of Medical Specialties Member Boards play in ensuring patient safety. 

“When friends or family ask me where they should get their health care, I say, look for somebody who’s board certified,” he said. “If they’re not board certified, find somebody else.” 

Never too busy to help, Dr. Dunnick has served as president of at least 10 radiology associations and societies. ABR Trustee Kate Maturen, MD, MS, is a colleague at the University of Michigan who admires his willingness to lend his limited spare time to professional causes and development. 

“Reed’s mentorship relationships have waves of influence from the individual to the entire field of radiology,” she said. “He encourages people to take on leadership roles, apply for grants, direct programs, in short, do just a little bit more — with profound effects on their individual careers. At the same time his continual support of volunteerism — and sponsorship to make that possible for so many — has helped to create a cadre of committed leaders who can move radiology forward as a collective.” 

Dr. Maturen would often go hiking with Dr. Dunnick when they were in Tucson for ABR volunteer meetings. She appreciates his dedication to wellness, as evidenced by his nonstop activity and brown bag lunches consisting of yogurt, a granola bar, and an apple. Even with fewer commitments and a reasonable work schedule, there’s no way Dr. Dunnick will ease up. 

“I’ve thought about it as I watch people age … so often they don’t take care of themselves,” he said. “I keep telling people that they have to challenge themselves mentally and physically all the time.”

As a medical physicist who once took the Maintenance of Certification Exam years ago, Miriam Weiser, MS, has a piece of advice for her fellow ABR diplomates: Use Online Longitudinal Assessment (OLA) to satisfy Part 3 of Continuing Certification.   

“A point-in-time exam is not easy to study for,” she said. “It’s hard to know, especially the first time you do it, what will be asked. At that time (when a 10-year exam was used instead of OLA), I don’t think we were focused as much on walking-around knowledge. I found it stressful, and I think that the OLA process has been an improvement.”

Miriam knows OLA well. She has been chair of the therapeutic medical physics question-writing committee for the platform since it was introduced to medical physics in 2020.   

She sees the new Continuing Certification Exam, a one-day exam taken every five years, as a less desirable way to assess diplomate knowledge than OLA, where questions are issued and answered over time. 

“As somebody who doesn’t test well, I find OLA to be more meaningful and a better method,” she said.   

Most volunteers who write ABR Initial and Continuing Certification questions get their inspiration from the workplace. Miriam, who works for Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, is no exception. She wants to produce relevant questions, not ones that only apply to a limited audience.   

She believes that writing ABR questions isn’t an opportunity for volunteers to flaunt their knowledge.   

“I don’t want to write a hard question just for the sake of a hard question,” Miriam said. “I want questions that will let people show the knowledge they have and what they’re doing in their clinic.”   

OLA questions go through an extensive vetting process in committees before they’re sent to participants. Miriam said it’s important that diplomates give feedback when they run across a question they think is too vague or doesn’t fit their work. Participant feedback can trigger an internal process that sometimes results in the question being pulled.   

“If you see a question you think isn’t appropriate, please flag it,” she said. “We do review it, and I want to see that.”   

Mike Taylor, MS, is a former co-worker of Miriam’s who has known her for almost 20 years. He invited her to become an ABR volunteer and has been impressed with what she has helped accomplish.   

“Miriam played a key role in the development and rollout of the OLA program, helping guide the transition from the 10-year exam with thoughtfulness and care,” he said. “Her steady dedication didn’t just improve the process … it helped create a better experience for ABR diplomates.”   

As often occurs in smaller subspecialties, Miriam also has served as an ABR oral examiner. She said the process is rigorous, for examinees and even for examiners, as they try to determine whether physicians or physicists are safe to practice independently.   

“Every year I do it, I am a little anxious going in,” she said. “I can’t compare it to the nerves I felt as an examinee. But the examiners really want to help examinees demonstrate their knowledge in the best way possible.”   

Miriam took her certifying oral exam in Louisville, a former rite of passage for ABR diplomates. She said the move to remote exams has been a positive change for those giving and taking exams.   

“It was unbelievably stressful,” she said. “I think doing the remote exams is better. Certainly, for me as an examiner, and I hope for examinees, too. I think we’ve improved a lot there.”   

On the Continuing Certification side, she believes that answering OLA questions goes beyond diplomate obligation. Miriam finds the platform educational and a great way to gauge physician or physicist knowledge, which benefits the public.   

“I find OLA to be a good learning process,” she said. “I like that if you get a question wrong, you have the opportunity to understand the answer. We try to provide a good rationale and then you get to see a variation of the question and hopefully improve. I think it’s a really good method, especially for people who are working in the clinic. They get to know what they know and what they don’t know and improve their knowledge and hopefully their patient care. That’s the ultimate goal.”