AAARAD History

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