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ACR Foundation presents Global Humanitarian Award
Individuals honored at ACR 2025 for positive global impact on radiology services.
May 4, 2025
The American College of Radiology Foundation® presented its Global Humanitarian Award today at ACR 2025, the College’s annual meeting in Washington, DC. The 2025 award recipients are Frank Minja, MD and Toma Omofoye, MD. The award recognizes outstanding individuals, organizations and programs working to improve access to and equitable delivery of quality radiological services in low- and middle-income countries and in areas of need within more developed nations.
“Doctors Minja and Omofoye exemplify the spirit of this award through their dedication to helping educate and train radiologists and their teams in underserved countries,” said Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, MA, FACR, chair of the American College of Radiology® Board of Chancellors. “The ACR Foundation is proud to recognize the work of these physician role models for their commitment to achieve better health outcomes and improve patient care in these countries.”
Dr. Minja was raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania before attending college and medical school in the U.S. He spent a year of service in Dar es Salaam in 2014, pursuing fundamental improvements for Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) installation, radiology information systems and training of radiology residents. Dr. Minja co-founded an interventional radiology program at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania in 2018, a program to bring interventional radiology teams from around the world for two-week blocks to provide sub-specialty training to Tanzanian radiologists. Road2IR, the program’s support organization, aids in funding, mobilizing teams and equipment and educating. This paradigm is being introduced to neighboring countries and hospital systems in Uganda and Rwanda. They have graduated 16 interventional radiology fellows and more than 10,000 minimally invasive procedures have been completed. A women’s imaging curriculum was also approved in 2022, and the first cohort of breast/body women’s imaging fellows have graduated.
Dr. Omofoye has significantly advanced breast cancer care in underserved regions across Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. She developed a comprehensive, online breast imaging curriculum designed for low- and middle-income countries. Originally intended for 50 trainees in two countries, the program has expanded to reach more than 225 participants across multiple continents. Dr. Omofoye is also advancing radiology education in Zambia by supporting the University Teaching Hospital radiology residency program and training the country’s first breast radiologist. She delivers frequent in-person and online lectures that show her steadfast commitment to capacity building in a nation with fewer than 20 radiologists. In the Caribbean, Dr. Omofoye has tackled the breast cancer crisis by helping to organize educational seminars on breast care in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency, World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Recently her Regional Caribbean Training Course trained more than 40 participants from 13 Caribbean countries, including radiologists, technologists, surgeons, pathologists, gynecologists, oncologists and policymakers.
The ACR Foundation Global Humanitarian Award may be given in one of three distinct categories: individual radiologists; organizations (including nonprofit and industry groups); and non-radiologists (including medical physicists, radiologic technologists, ultrasonographers and other radiological personnel).
For more information, visit the ACR Foundation Global Humanitarian webpage.
“Doctors Minja and Omofoye exemplify the spirit of this award through their dedication to helping educate and train radiologists and their teams in underserved countries,” said Alan H. Matsumoto, MD, MA, FACR, chair of the American College of Radiology® Board of Chancellors. “The ACR Foundation is proud to recognize the work of these physician role models for their commitment to achieve better health outcomes and improve patient care in these countries.”
Dr. Minja was raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania before attending college and medical school in the U.S. He spent a year of service in Dar es Salaam in 2014, pursuing fundamental improvements for Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) installation, radiology information systems and training of radiology residents. Dr. Minja co-founded an interventional radiology program at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania in 2018, a program to bring interventional radiology teams from around the world for two-week blocks to provide sub-specialty training to Tanzanian radiologists. Road2IR, the program’s support organization, aids in funding, mobilizing teams and equipment and educating. This paradigm is being introduced to neighboring countries and hospital systems in Uganda and Rwanda. They have graduated 16 interventional radiology fellows and more than 10,000 minimally invasive procedures have been completed. A women’s imaging curriculum was also approved in 2022, and the first cohort of breast/body women’s imaging fellows have graduated.
Dr. Omofoye has significantly advanced breast cancer care in underserved regions across Africa, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. She developed a comprehensive, online breast imaging curriculum designed for low- and middle-income countries. Originally intended for 50 trainees in two countries, the program has expanded to reach more than 225 participants across multiple continents. Dr. Omofoye is also advancing radiology education in Zambia by supporting the University Teaching Hospital radiology residency program and training the country’s first breast radiologist. She delivers frequent in-person and online lectures that show her steadfast commitment to capacity building in a nation with fewer than 20 radiologists. In the Caribbean, Dr. Omofoye has tackled the breast cancer crisis by helping to organize educational seminars on breast care in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency, World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Recently her Regional Caribbean Training Course trained more than 40 participants from 13 Caribbean countries, including radiologists, technologists, surgeons, pathologists, gynecologists, oncologists and policymakers.
The ACR Foundation Global Humanitarian Award may be given in one of three distinct categories: individual radiologists; organizations (including nonprofit and industry groups); and non-radiologists (including medical physicists, radiologic technologists, ultrasonographers and other radiological personnel).
For more information, visit the ACR Foundation Global Humanitarian webpage.
