American College of Radiology names annual Gold Medal Award winners
The American College of Radiology on Thursday named two members of the specialty as its next Gold Medal Award winners, the trade group’s highest distinction.
ACR’s Board of Chancellors has chosen Hedvig Hricak, MD, PhD, and Debra Monticciolo, MD, as its next honorees, who will be recognized at the organization’s 2026 annual meeting in May. The Gold Medal is meant to recognize those “who have contributed to the future of radiology and ACR through extraordinary service.”
ACR has been bestowing the honor since 1927, with last year’s winners including Jacqueline A. Bello, MD, Beverly G. Coleman, MD, and Alan D. Kaye, MD.
“The Gold Medal can be awarded by the Board of Chancellors to radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists, and other distinguished scientists for distinguished and extraordinary service to the American College of Radiology or to the discipline of radiology,” according to the nomination criteria. “Service to radiology can be in teaching, basic research, clinical investigation, or radiologic statesmanship, such as outstanding contributions in work with the ACR, other medical organizations, governmental agencies and quasi-medical organizations.”
Hricak is a distinguished medical educator, having authored 800 peer-reviewed publications and 18 books. She currently is the chair emeritus of the imaging department at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a professor emeritus of radiology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Hricak has already been awarded a gold medal by eight different medical associations while receiving 23 fellowships and honorary memberships. She’s the former chair of the ACR Gynecology Committee and in 2002 was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, receiving the David Rall Medal in 2018 for exceptional leadership for the academy. Hricak also holds honorary doctorates from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, and the University of Toulouse III, Paul Sabatier, in Toulouse, France.
Meanwhile, Monticciolo is a longtime advocate for patient access, particularly in breast cancer screening, ACR noted. She is a former president of the college after serving as chair of its commissions related to quality/safety and breast imaging. As head of ACR’s accreditation programs, Monticciolo was instrumental in developing the organization’s Centers of Excellence related to both breast and diagnostic imaging. She also continues to serve the college as chair of the ACR Screening Leaders Group.
The American College of Radiology on Oct. 16 additionally named three individuals as honorary fellows. They include Banu Atalar, MD, president of the Turkish Society for Radiation Oncology; Katrine Riklund, MD, PhD, professor and dean of the medical faculty of Umea University in Umeå, Sweden; and Bien Soo Tan, MD, who was head of the Singapore General Hospital radiology department during the 2003 SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic. You can read more about them here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.