This year’s recipient of the 2026 RLI Impact in Leadership Award talks about how RLI courses helped him lead an organizational initiative and grow as a leader.
The ACR boasts an abundance of resources to help its members advance in their careers and grow as leaders. The Radiology Leadership Institute® (RLI) is one of those resources, offering courses, scholarships and awards to help radiologists progress in their careers. Every year, the RLI Impact in Leadership Award is given to an individual who has applied lessons learned through RLI courses and programs to lead a meaningful initiative at their institution that centers around leadership. The RLI will recognize award and scholarship recipients at the 2026 RLI Summit, Oct. 16–18 in Atlanta.
This year’s recipient is Arthur Hung, MD, FACR, associate professor of radiation medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, who was recognized for leading a structured stewardship initiative. Hung spoke with the Bulletin to discuss how RLI courses helped shape the initiative and how that, in turn, strengthened him as a leader.
I remember I had been asked to step in as Interim Chair of the Department of Radiation Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in 2021, and I was looking for resources that could help. While reading my ACR emails, I saw a course advertised through the RLI called “Maximize Your Influence and Impact” (recently renamed “Leadership Accelerator: Maximizing Your Impact from the Reading Room to the Boardroom”). I reached out to Geoffrey Rubin, MD, MBA, FACR, and the administrator who runs the program and asked if it would be applicable for radiation oncology and he was very welcoming and said that it would certainly fit.
When I was tapped to lead the department, it was also an opportunity to reshape a department that had gone through a period of disruption and turnover into a more functional environment. There had been a lot of instability in the department when I became interim chair, with many key roles experiencing turnover, including significant leadership positions being either vacant or in a state of transition. I wanted to make sure that however long my term would be for, the Department would be in better shape than when I took over.
The program talked about leadership models and the pitfalls of various leadership models, and obviously things have evolved for leadership and for business over the last 20 to 30 years. There are different ways that organizations can be structured to accomplish the goals and missions that they have. One of the subsections of the program included literally looking at leadership models and organizational design and that really helped me envision what would be functional within our department for our needs.
I think my biggest takeaway is that what seemed like an incredibly daunting process turned out to be manageable by seeking help.
The “Maximizing Your Influence and Impact” program gave me a framework of what the organizational structure could look like. It also gave me an idea of how we establish benchmarks or metrics that we should be meeting along the way on our journey to becoming a successful department. There was a section on performance measurement of organizations that was extremely helpful. We looked at what they call the “smarter framework of specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound, evaluated and revised metrics.” Our metrics included safety, productivity and a positive patient experience.
That framework gave us a sense of the targets that we needed as we built the department. There were other sessions that were about the leadership executives on the hospital side, how they viewed departments and how our department fit within the organizational structure of the hospital. That knowledge was instrumental in helping me navigate new relationships I had with hospital leadership.
I think my biggest takeaway is that what seemed like an incredibly daunting process turned out to be manageable by seeking help. Not only was the RLI perfectly positioned to help me at that moment, but it also gave me the confidence to look for resources and connections at all different levels. I wasn't as fearful to talk with executive leadership because the course gave me insight to their perspectives and that confidence enabled me to leverage resources wherever they were available to me.
There’s no shortage of leadership development courses out there. Having these programs tailored to the healthcare field — specifically for radiology and radiation oncology which are uniquely positioned in healthcare — is one of a kind and helpful. These are very focused courses that are relevant to our practice.
I would encourage everybody to participate, even if they’re satisfied with where they are in their careers. I enjoy my practice and my career but having an understanding of the challenges of leadership helps me thrive and reduces my sense of helplessness navigating a difficult healthcare environment. It’s one of the keys for me to minimize burnout and feel that I am productive with my career.
Interview by Alex Utano, associate editor, ACR Bulletin
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