The concept for the Association of Administrators in Academic Radiology departments was initially formed in 1988 at the Medical Group Management Association’s (MGMA’s) Academic Practice Assembly (APA) meeting in Boston, where a set of bylaws was developed. Membership originally included administrators from both Diagnostic Radiology and Radiation Oncology departments. Because of that collaboration, the association at that time was known as the Association of Administrators in Academic Radiology and Radiation Oncology (AAARRO). It was agreed there would always be adequate representation from each of the two radiological specialties comprising AAARRO, with the presidency changing regularly between the two groups.
Key participants in the 1988 Boston meeting included Marc Halman from the University of Michigan, Deniese Parrish-Chaney from University of North Carolina, and David Percival from the University of New Mexico. This group’s planning efforts expanded at the 1989 APA meeting in New Orleans, where the first Board of Directors and Officers were elected.
Diana Doepp-Lantz and Sherry Elliott from Virginia Commonwealth University, along with Harry Granito from the University of Michigan, joined the organizational planning efforts at the 1989 New Orleans meeting. The impetus for creating the organization was to bring together academic colleagues who regularly attended the annual APA meeting and to establish a network for collaboration among diagnostic imaging and radiation oncology management and business professionals in academic medicine. As the organization progressed, education sessions were presented.
Over the years, administrators in both radiological specialties began meeting with their respective Chair organizations in separate meetings. Diagnostic imaging members first met with the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD) in 1995. In 2004, after discussion with membership, it was determined that AAARRO would move forward with a diagnostic radiology focus. Both groups mutually agreed to disengage as a joint group and form separate associations. The diagnostic radiology group was renamed the Association of Administrators in Academic Radiology, or AAARAD. The tradition of meeting at the APA meeting was discontinued shortly after the reorganization due to AAARAD’s growing relationship with SCARD.
Regular interaction with the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments (SCARD) (website: www.scardweb.org) continues as an important objective of AAARAD. AAARAD meets annually, holding a 2-day educational session prior to the Fall SCARD meeting. AAARAD members typically attend and participate in SCARD educational sessions by providing presentations of mutual interest to administrators and chairs.
AAARAD Presidential Leadership Chronology
| Name | Year | Affiliation |
| Deniese Parrish Chaney | 1988 – 89 | University of North Carolina |
| Marc Halman | 1989 – 90 | University of Michigan |
| Kathy Van Camp | 1990 – 91 | StanfordUniversity |
| Harry Granito | 1991 – 92 | University of Michigan |
| Marlar Chu | 1992 – 94 | Penn State University |
| Larry Ranahan | 1994 – 96 | University of Chicago |
| Sherry Elliott | 1996 – 98 | Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Diane Cassels | 1998 – 99 | Emory University |
| Alan Scheps | 1999 – 01 | Yale University |
| Jill McCoy Jenkins | 2001 – 02 | Medical College of South Carolina |
| Greg Strickland | 2002 – 03 | University of Virginia |
| Mark Domalewski | 2003 – 04 | Fairview Healthcare System |
| Valerie Light | 2004 – 05 | University of Arizona |
| Marsha Bennett | 2005 – 06 | Saint Louis University |
| Margaret Birrenkott | 2006 – 07 | University of Wisconsin |
| Mike Cortegiano | 2007 – 08 | SUNY at Stony Brook |
| Marty Bledsoe | 2008 – 09 | John’s Hopkins University |
| Cathy Garzio | 2009 – 10 | University of California San Francisco |
| Carl Nickerson | 2010 – 11 | Beth Israel Hospital/Harvard |
| Sandra Stein | 2011 – 13 | Yale University |
| Richard Pierce | 2013 – 14 | University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| Brenda Izzi | 2014 – 16 | UCLA |
| Bradley Gleichman | 2016 – 17 | University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center |
| Layne Mitchell | 2017 – 18 | Augusta University |
| Victor Sarro | 2018 – 20 | Jefferson Medical College |
| Kim Lenner | 2020 – 21 | University of Chicago |
| Denise Quandt | 2021 – 22 | University of Kentucky |
| Bart LeFan | 2022 – 23 | Indiana University |
| Mehul Lakhani | 2023 – 24 | University of Colorado |