RSNA News (10/03/22) McKee, Jennie

Interest is growing in the American Board of Radiology's (ABR) dual certificate in interventional radiology/diagnostic radiology (IR/DR). University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine Professor M. Victoria Marx, MD, said qualifying for the certificate is achievable via three training tracks: integrated IR residency, independent IR residency, and an independent IR residency variant entailing advanced placement. She explained that IR fellowships have been phased out. "The distinction is important because 'fellowship' leads to subspecialty status and 'residency' leads to a primary certificate," Marx said. Massachusetts General Hospital's (MGH) Ronald S. Arellano, MD, noted the fellowship phase-out has prompted residency programs to recruit trainees from medical school. Mari Tanaka, MD, a PGY-6 integrated IR/DR resident at MGH, said increasing numbers of trainees are gaining IR/DR certification "because of increased efforts by individual programs as well as the Society of Interventional Radiology to raise awareness of the field." She added that IR training programs are making greater efforts to seamlessly integrate the training experience in response to the dual certification. Marx also cited positive feedback from medical students and residents on the shift in IR graduate medical education (GME) training enabled by the dual certificate. "The GME training programs and ABR certification requirements exist together to ensure that interventional radiologists are able to provide our patients with the best care possible and contribute in a meaningful way to the future of interventional care," she noted.

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