Best Radiologist Training Program
Minnies 2026 winner: Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO
Did you miss seeing Mallinckrodt on top of the Minnies again? With this year’s victory, the institute has claimed its fifth Minnies award in the Best Radiologist Training Program category, but its first since 2013.
Part of Washington University in St. Louis, Mallinckrodt houses one of the most prestigious and consistently top-ranked radiologist training programs in the world. It offers hands-on mentoring and one-to-one instruction from leaders in radiology education, as well as plenty of opportunities for social networking.
“Our residency program is really an immense source of pride for me,” said Martin Reis, MD, diagnostic radiology program director at Mallinckrodt. “I really believe that we are not only training future radiologists, but the future leaders in this field.”
The curriculum has trainees learn the ins and outs of different subspecialties in radiology, including neuroimaging, breast imaging, and pediatric imaging to name a few. They learn about best practices and uses for imaging modalities such as CT, ultrasound, and mammography. Students also have opportunities to work in night float and on-call schedules. The institute’s residency program also has three residency program tracks for interventional radiology, including integrated, independent, and early specialization.
During their final year of training, residents in the diagnostic radiology residency who are not doing an early specialization in interventional radiology, research, or diagnostic radiology/nuclear medicine track can complete one or more selective “mini-residencies.” Mallinckrodt also encourages residents who are involved in projects that require dedicated blocks of research time to pursue a research elective that provides uninterrupted time to work on mentored projects.
“It’s a tremendous privilege to teach them every day, to learn from them, and to watch them grow,” said Reis, who was named the director of the institute's diagnostic radiology residency program in 2023. He also completed his residency in diagnostic radiology and neuroradiology fellowship at Mallinckrodt.
Mallinckrodt is also second in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and more than 1,800 alumni in over 20 countries.
Runner-up: Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA
Best Radiologic Sciences Program
Minnies 2026 winner: University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS
The University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in recent years has shown it has become a premier institute of enriching the education of today and tomorrow’s radiologic technologists.
Kristi Moore, PhD, won a Minnie in 2022 in the category of Most Effective Radiologic Sciences Educator. This time around, the entire program is being recognized, with Moore crediting the faculty team.
“They work tirelessly and pour their hearts into our students every single day,” Moore said. “Their dedication, passion, and unwavering commitment to providing an exceptional educational experience are what make our program so special.”
Ottis “Lee” Brown, DHA, radiologic sciences program director at UMMC, echoed that sentiment.
“We have a very dedicated team,” Brown said. “We get great satisfaction when our students perform well and go out to become great techs. I’m honored.”
UMMC’s radiologic sciences department offers two types of Radiologic Sciences bachelor's degree programs. One is a traditional baccalaureate degree program for students to gain an entry-level radiologic sciences education and clinical experience needed to become a registered radiologic technologist. It takes 22 months to complete, with students attending class full-time across five semesters and gaining clinical experience.
UMMC has a 95.6% success rate for graduates from the traditional program who passed the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) certification exam on their first try within six months of graduation. It also has a 100% job placement rate within the last five years.
The advanced standing baccalaureate degree program, meanwhile, is meant for those who are already registered radiologic technologists. The online program is part-time and offered across five semesters.
Brown said having faculty having a students-first approach and having administrative support are strengths that work in favor of the program. He added that students having access to gaining clinical experience at Mississippi’s only level-one trauma center at UMMC.
“They [students] are at a distinct advantage,” Brown said. “It really helps set them up for success. We have all the specialties, so students can pursue any that they want to make future decisions.”
Runner-up: Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, MN
Most Significant News Event in Radiology
Minnies 2026 winner: FDA strikes down radiology AI 510(k) requirements
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April made waves when it denied a petition from Harrison.ai that sought to exempt certain radiology AI software from premarket review.
The FDA took a firm stance against treating different types of computer-aided devices as interchangeable. The petition would have exempted four generic device types from 510(k) requirements when certain conditions were met: computer-assisted diagnostic (CADx) software for suspicious lesions, medical image analyzers, computer-aided triage and notification (CADt) software, and computer-assisted detection and diagnosis (CADe/x) software. It also would have let manufacturers assess their own device risks and decide what post-market plan was proportionate, which the FDA said would essentially flip the current standard.
The agency noted the petition offered no mechanism for it to evaluate those individualized plans. In its April 1 decision letter, the FDA argued that holding a 510(k) clearance does not show a manufacturer is proficient in the development processes needed for all future devices of the same type. It also said many elements of AI development for one CAD indication do not readily transfer to another, including clinical workflow expertise, dataset curation, and reference standard selection. The agency added that detection (CADe) and diagnostic (CADx) devices require different evaluation methods.
The FDA also rejected the claim that radiologists can readily spot changes in CAD performance by viewing images. It said that for individual patients, agreement between a reader, the CAD output, and the true disease state may not be known until after a misdiagnosis. In screening mammography, a physician often cannot tell a true-positive from a false-positive output without a biopsy.
More than 45 comments were submitted, and most opposed the proposal. The FDA noted it cleared at least 255 radiology AI devices through the 510(k) program in 2025 alone.
Instead of exemptions, the agency suggested manufacturers use predetermined change control plans and encouraged them to pursue further discussion through its Q-Submission Program.
The issue of FDA regulation of AI medical devices will likely to continue to be a hot-button topic in the coming year. In August, the FDA published a discussion paper on the regulation of generative AI-enabled medical devices. Both the RSNA and American College of Radiology (ACR) commented on the paper and encouraged changes.
Runner-up: Dr. Nicole Saphier nominated for Surgeon General
Biggest Threat to Radiology
Minnies 2026 winner: Radiology workforce shortages
The Minnies Expert Panel has selected radiology workforce shortage as the biggest threat to radiology for fourth year in a row. And this issue shows no signs of abating.
Earlier this year, research from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute found that radiology workforce attrition is higher in subspecialties and most pronounced in areas such as cardiothoracic and breast imaging. This loss of subspecialists can have long-lasting effects, including affecting the ability of patients to access and receive care.
What’s more, this higher attrition raised concerns for the possibility of disproportionate shortages and consequent higher workloads, adding heightened workload demands and burden on the specialty’s remaining radiologists, according to the researchers. Meanwhile, imaging turnaround times continue to increase.
Can AI help? It’s complicated. The 2026 Minnie for Scientific Paper of the Year projected that AI could reduce radiologist hours worked by nearly half over five years, although sustained growth in imaging volumes will likely absorb much of that effect. The bottom line is that there will likely be a shift in what radiologists do rather than a reduction in how many radiologists are needed, according to Curtis Langlotz, MD, PhD, of Stanford University.
And another recent editorial refuted recent claims that AI has reduced the need for radiologists, noting that medical imaging demand is projected to grow by as much as 27% by 2055, driven by population growth and aging.
Runner-up: Increased imaging volumes
Hottest Clinical Procedure
Minnies 2026 Winner: Theranostics
For the third year in a row, the Minnies Expert Panel has named theranostics as the Hottest Clinical Procedure, edging out agentic AI.
Theranostics, a portmanteau of “therapy” and “diagnostics,” uses the same molecular ligands to both image and treat cancer. The concept is summed up by the expression, “See what you treat and treat what you see.”
If 2024 was the year theranostics hit its stride and 2025 the year its pipeline swelled, this year the field began to mature as a market. On the therapy side, in July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) expanded Pluvicto’s approval to men with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer, moving the therapy earlier in the disease course. In June, Curium and Lantheus won a patent dispute with Novartis over lutetium-177 (Lu-177) dotatate, clearing a path for the first generic competitors to Lutathera.
Imaging kept pace. Also in June, a generic gallium-68 (Ga-68) PSMA-11 PET agent cleared the FDA. The FDA also approved Lantheus’ new Pylarify TruVu formulation and Telix's Pixclara (F-18 floretyrosine), the first FDA-approved PET imaging agent for glioma.
Copper isotopes gained ground as well, with copper-61 (Cu-61) NODAGA-LM3 showing promise in neuroendocrine tumors and Clarity reporting results for its copper-64 (Cu-64) SAR-bisPSMA agent. Meanwhile, zirconium-89 (Zr-89) immuno-PET tracers showed promise in prostate and pancreatic cancer, and gallium-68 (Ga-68) NYM096 earned FDA breakthrough therapy and fast-track designations.
If our coverage of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) annual meeting in June is any indication, new science will keep fueling the field’s growth. Researchers reported that an alpha-emitting agent induced remission in neuroendocrine tumor patients who had exhausted standard options, while others proposed a theranostic approach for PSMA-negative prostate cancer. Another team unveiled a machine-learning model that predicts radiation dose to tumors and healthy organs prior to Lu-177 PSMA therapy.
Combination strategies also gained ground. At the 2025 annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), results from the phase II LUNAR trial showed that Lu-177 PNT2002 given before stereotactic body radiotherapy more than doubled median progression-free survival in men with oligometastatic prostate cancer, from seven months to 18 months.
Dealmaking underscored the stakes in the field. Curium agreed to acquire Lantheus for $8 billion, GE HealthCare moved to buy Sofie Biosciences and its network of 21 cyclotrons for $945 million, and AdvanCell raised $315 million for targeted alpha therapy. Lantheus and GE HealthCare also teamed up to launch Pylarify in Japan.
To help readers keep up, AuntMinnie.com this year launched its Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Tracker, which now follows programs from more than 60 companies from phase I through approval and generics.
Three wins in three years suggest theranostics has moved from promise to practice. The question now is how fast the field can scale to meet demand.
Runner-up: Agentic AI
