Greetings from your MDCB liaisons. We wanted to update you on a few items of interest from the MDCB, the certifying body for our Certified Medical Dosimetrist (CMD) colleagues (analogous to ABR for physicists.) First, for an overview of MDCB, please read the recent editorial by members of the MDCB, including our predecessor, Emilie Soisson: "Update on Requirements for Medical Dosimetry Certification in the United States." (Soisson E, Lembesis F., Baacke D., DeMarco ML., and Herman J., Int J. of Rad. Bio. Phys., 2018; 102(2) 251-253.) Since that publication, the MDCB has recently completed a Job Task Analysis (JTA). To ensure that the exam continues to have relevance to current dosimetry practice, a JTA is conducted every five years in accordance with best practices standards by MDCB's test development partner Prometric. The April 2019 exam will reflect the test matrix derived from the recent JTA: Treatment Planning techniques (40%), Radiation Physics (16%), Dose Calculation Methods (15%), QA & Standard of Care (8%), brachytherapy (6%), localization (8%) and Radiation Protection (7%).

Another update is a change in the administration frequency of the exam. Since 2012, the CMD exam has been administered twice annually. In 2019 there will only be a single administration. The most important factor in determining the number of exam administrations is to ensure the reliability of exam scores by maintaining a minimum number of candidates to fairly assess an equated cut (pass) score. In 2017, the exam requirements changed to allow for only one eligibility route. Training from a JRCERT accredited dosimetry program and a minimum of a bachelor's degree is now required for MDCB certification, resulting in a smaller candidate pool. The MDCB Directors, therefore, made the difficult decision to conduct only one exam administration in 2019. Although the candidate pool has decreased, the pass rate has significantly increased since the transition to one eligibility route. As the field of radiation oncology continues to advance, the MDCB will continue to assess the needs of the dosimetry exam to best serve the dosimetry community and support quality patient care. For more information please refer to the MDCB website or reach out to one of the AAPM MDCB liaisons.

Front row:
Kristen Vu, CMD; A. Paige Dalton, CMD; MaryLou DeMarco, CMD; Felicia Lembesis, Execitive Director, Diana Baacke, CMD; Destiny Jacobs, CMD; Jennifer Smilowitz, PhD; Marvene Ewing, CMD Back row
Pierre Beaunegre, CMD; Joseph Herman, MD; Julie Bradley, MD; Emilie Soisson, PhD; Robert Inshetski, CMD; Cory Neill, CMD; Benjamin Johnson (public member) New Members missing from photo:
Minsong Cao, PhD; George Arnould, CMD; Michael Manteuffel, CMD; Allison McCarthy, CMD; Teresa Meier, MD