Meet the Minnies 2026 semifinalist candidates

Oct 15, 2026

The following is the list of candidates for the 2026 edition of the Minnies, AuntMinnie.com's campaign to recognize the best and brightest in medical imaging. This year, well over 100 candidates have been selected as semifinalists for 14 categories, ranging from Most Influential Radiology Researcher to Best New Radiology Device for the period of September 1, 2025 to September 1, 2026.

The semifinalist list was compiled based on nominations from members of AuntMinnie.com. Winners will be selected by our expert panel in two rounds of voting. The finalists will be announced in late October, followed by the winners in early November.

Most Influential Radiology Researcher

Raj Attariwala, MD, PhD, AIM Medical Imaging

Manisha Bahl, MD, Mass General Brigham

Richard Barr, MD, Northeast Ohio Medical University

Kaustav Bera, MD, University Hospitals

Akshay Chaudhari, Stanford Radiology

Eric Christensen, PhD, Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute

Damini Dey, PhD, Cedars-Sinai

Felix Gonzalez, MD, AdventHealth Radiology and Imaging

Lars Grimm, MD, Duke University

Thomas Hope, MD, UCSF

Ajay Malhotra, MBBS, MD, Yale School of Medicine

Yusuf Menda, MD, University of Iowa

Jay Parikh, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Perry Pickhardt, MD, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Elizabeth Rula, PhD, Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute

Riad Salem, MD, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine

Kathleen Schmainda, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin

Satvik Tripathi, PHD student, Perelman School of Medicine

Most Effective Radiology Educator

Lea Alhilali, MD, Barrow Neurological

Suzie Bash, MD, RadNet

David Bluemke, MD, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Rajesh Botchu, MBBS, Royal Orthopaedic Hospital

Kellye Chia, NordInsight

Stamatia Destounis, MD, Elizabeth Wende Breast Care

Richard Duszak, MD, University of Central Florida

Navid Faraji, MD, University Hospitals

Ghaneh Fananapazir, MD, UC Davis School of Medicine

Elliot Fishman, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine

L. Alexandre Frigini, MD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Swati Goyal, DRMD, Gandhi Medical College

Matthew Hartman, MD, Allegheny Health Network

Sandeep Hedgire, MD, Mass General Brigham

Susan Holley, MD, PhD, Onsite Women’s Health

Saurabh Jha, MD, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

Emanuel Kanal, MD, University of Pittsburgh

Nina Kottler, MD, Mosaic Clinical Technologies

Curtis Langlotz, MD, PhD, Stanford Medicine

Mahadevappa Mahesh, MD, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ian Mark, MD, Mayo Clinic

Yusuf Menda, MD, University of Iowa

Christine “Cooky” Menias, MD, Mayo Clinic

Frank Miller, MD, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine

Mark D. Murphey, MD, AFIP

Annie Packard, MD, Mayo Clinic

Amy Patel, MD, Liberty Hospital Medical Center

Sean Raj, MD, SimonMed

Andrew Rosenkrantz, MD, NYU Langone Health

Barry Siegel MD, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology

Manuel Signorini, MD, Università degli Studi di Padova

Elana Smith, MD, University of Maryland

Benjamin Strong, MD, Virtual Radiologic

Mohamed Swaleh, MD, The Mombasa Hospital

Laszlo Tabar, MD, Mammography Education, Inc.

Lawrence Tanenbaum, MD, drtmasters

Charlotte Taylor, MD, University of Mississippi Medical Center

Sree Harsha Tirumani, MD, Case Western Reserve University

Greg Zaharchuk, MD, PhD, Stanford University

Most Effective Radiologic Sciences Educator

Holly Bonfig-Becker, Ed.D, RT(R)(M) University of Iowa

Cheryl O. DuBose, Ed.D, RT(R), Arkansas State University

Terri Franklin, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Tobias Gilk, Gilk Radiology Consultants

Zack Gray, Ed.D, RT (R), University of Mississippi Medical Center

Kristan Harrington, T2Star Radiology Solutions

Giuseppe Scappatura, Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Bianchi Melacrino Morelli, Italy

Kathleen Schmainda, PhD, Medical College of Wisconsin

Becky Seals, RT(R)(MR) Medical University of South Carolina Health

Kori L. Stewart, Ph.D., R.T.(R)(CT), Quinnipiac University

Most Effective Radiology Administrator/Manager

Asher Street Beam, DHA, RT(R)(MR), University of Mississippi Medical Center

Tom Cappas, RT(R)(MR), Midstate Radiology Associates

Avery Knapp, MD, Expert Radiology Management Services

Nitin Kumar, MD, Fairfax Radiological Consultants

Josh Lee, RT(R) (MR), University of Mississippi Medical Center

Andrew Ruiz, Rady Children’s Health

Hans Schild, Radiologische Universitätsklinik Bonn, Germany

Jason Theodore, AdventHealth

Best Radiology Training Program

AdventHealth Orlando, Orlando, FL

Allegheny Health Network (AHN), Pittsburgh, PA

Case Western Reserve University/UH, Cleveland, OH

Creighton University – Phoenix, AZ

Duke University, Durham, NC

Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Phoenix

Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis, MO

Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland

Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham, UK

Stanford University, Stanford, CA

University of Iowa Health Care, Iowa City

University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore

University of Mississippi Medical School, Jackson

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Best Radiologic Sciences Program

Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, TN

Imaging Diversified

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

University of California, Los Angeles

University of California, San Francisco

University of Iowa, Iowa City

University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson

Most Significant News Event in Radiology

Curium, Lantheus win patent dispute over lutetium-177 dotatate products

Dr. Nicole Saphier nominated for Surgeon General

FDA strikes down radiology AI 510(k) exemption arguments

Nuance sunsets PowerScribe

Radiopharmaceutical industry consolidation

Shortage of stereotactic breast biopsy needles

Trump undergoes MRI exam

Biggest Threat to Radiology

Advanced physician providers

Burnout

Danger of becoming a remote specialty

Decline of independent private practice radiology

Increased imaging volumes

Medical malpractice lawsuits

MRI safety accidents

Poor leadership

Radiologist shortage

Radiologist turnover

Reimbursement

Hottest Clinical Procedure

Agentic AI

Cardiac PET

CT colonography

PET/CT

Photon-counting CT

PSMA-PET

Spectral CT

Theranostics

Whole-body MRI screening

Image of the Year

AI plus CCTA cuts plaque analysis time, predicts cardiac event risk. Image from Qian Chen, MD, of Nanjing Medical University in China.

AI-measured myosteatosis from CAC CT scans help predict future COPD. Image from Azir Azimi, MD, of HeartLung.ai.

Brain PET scans reveal neuron loss in long COVID. Image from Yuhan Karida Liu of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Ontario.

Cinematic rendering of penetrating cardiac injury. Image from Elliot Fishman, MD, of Johns Hopkins University.

Low muscle density on coronary CT linked to heart risk. Image from Alan Guimaraes, PhD, of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

MR elastography standards reliable for imaging chronic liver disease. Image from Suraj Serai, PhD, from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.

New immuno-PET tracer shows promise in lung cancer. Image from ad authors Liang Zhao, MD, and Hui Zhou, MD, of First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University in Xiamen, China.

Novel radiotracer effectively images overactive adrenal glands. Image from Peter Scott, PhD, of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor.

Positive Amyloid PET study alongside an AI-based quantitative MRI for ARIA surveillance. Image from Suzie Bash, MD, of RadNet.

PET tracer that detects deep vein thrombosis. Image from Sangwon Han, MD, PhD, of the University of Ulsan College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea.

Scientific Paper of the Year

AI-based triage and decision support in mammography and digital tomosynthesis for breast cancer screening: a paired, noninferiority trial, Elías-Cabot, et al, Nature Medicine, March 19, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Bridging Mammography and Lung Cancer Screening: Eligibility, Uptake and Potential Impact, Ajrouch, et al, Cancer Medicine, January 20, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Cash price transparency of common radiology services in the United States: An analysis of 2024 healthcare transparency data by state, Jacobsen, et al, Clinical Imaging, December 30, 2025. To learn more about this study, click here.

Deep Learning Model With Nodule Indexing Tailored to Early-Stage Lung Cancer Detection, Schroeder, et al, Journal of the American College of Radiology, January 29, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Direct to Radiology Emergency Avoidance Management (DREAM): A Quality Improvement Research Study on Reducing Emergency Department Overcrowding, Vacha et al, The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, August 6, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Epistemic Authority and Clinical Governance in AI-Integrated Radiography: A Practice-Oriented Narrative Review, Scappatura, Journal of Advanced Healthcare, April 20, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Imaging Utilization Among Pediatric Beneficiaries at Children’s Hospital Versus Non-Children’s Hospital Outpatient Facilities Using Medicaid Claims, Pelzl, et al, Journal of the American College of Radiology, January 20, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Interval cancer, sensitivity, and specificity comparing AI-supported mammography screening with standard double reading without AI in the MASAI study: a randomised, controlled, non-inferiority, single-blinded, population-based, screening-accuracy trial, Lång et al. The Lancet, January 29, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Leveraging Fine-Tuned Large Language Models for Interpretable Pancreatic Cystic Lesion Feature Extraction and Risk Categorization, Rasromani, et al, American Journal of Roentgenology, May 6, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Radiologist turnover in the United States. Parikh, et al, Journal of the American College of Radiology, June 23, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Sources of Work-Related Stress and Satisfaction in Radiology: A Survey of Faculty, Technologists, Nurses, and Other Staff, Ayyala, et al, American Journal of Roentgenology, August 26, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

The effect of AI on the Radiologist Workforce: A Task-Based Analysis, Langlotz, medRxiv, December 22, 2025. To learn more about this study, click here.

The Role of Agentic AI in Musculoskeletal Radiology: A Scoping Review, Computers, February 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

TMIST Lead-In Randomized Trial of Breast Tomosynthesis Versus Digital Mammography: Results in Women Ineligible for the Full TMIST Trial Due to Age (40–44 or ≥ 75 Years Old), Seely, et al, American Journal of Roentgenology, January 28, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Treatment Discontinuation in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) Patients Treated With Lutetium-177 (¹⁷⁷Lu)–PSMA-617: A Retrospective Real-World Study, Samadi, et al, Clinical Genitourinary Cancer, January 5, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Worldwide Radiation Dose in Coronary Artery Disease Diagnostic Imaging, Einstein, et al, JAMA, January 22, 2026. To learn more about this study, click here.

Best New Radiology Device

Accuro XV diagnostic ultrasound system, Rivanna

Alphenix 4D CT with Aquilion One/Insight Edition interventional imaging system, Canon Medical Systems

Artis vision interventional radiology systems, Siemens Healthineers

Ascent3T neonatal MRI system, Eyas Medical Imaging

ATUSA portable breast ultrasound system, iSono Health

Axana portable MRI scanner, Wellumio

Echelon Synergy ZeroHelium MRI, Fujifilm

Evo CT-Linac, Elekta

Extremity Scanner photon-counting CT system, Mars Bioimaging

KDR FMT+ DR system, Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas

Photonova Spectra photon-counting CT scanner, GE HealthCare