For valiant service selflessly rendered on the frontlines of the fight against COVID-19, the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) symbolically awards each and every one of our members the 2021 ARRS Gold Medal.

The ARRS Gold Medal is the highest honor bestowed by North America’s first radiological society—given explicitly for “distinguished service to radiology.” With COVID-19 responsible for more than two-and-a-half million deaths worldwide, the members of ARRS could not have served more prominently as integral and essential members of the care delivery teams.

During the earliest days of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it was the often subtle radiological findings, not necessarily clinical features, that best helped to confirm RT-PCR test results. Chest CT and radiographs were flattening the curve, indeed. During the darker days of the summer of 2020, as the USNS Mercy dropped anchor in Los Angeles and familiar spaces like McCormick Place were repurposed as field hospitals, again, it was imaging professionals that did the tough, yet absolutely essential work of triaging.

Back then, we cheered for you every night at 7 o’clock; today, we commend you for so many shifts completed so very well. Our job is not over, of course, so please allow the ARRS to thank you—everyone from the resident forced into online learning to practicing radiologists working to secure PPEs. Your grace under fire and ability to improvise will soon become the stuff of legend and textbooks alike, while your steadfast commitment to your patients, to each other, and to our field at large will be forever enshrined in this Gold Medal.

The ARRS Gold Medal Story Series

We invite you to submit your story to the ARRS Gold Medal Story Series, which will include member narratives from around the world—giving names and faces to those imaging professionals who conquered the day-to-day challenges of battling COVID-19.

  • Recount the challenges conquered and innovations implemented during the pandemic
  • Recognize your practice, institution, or department for distinguished service
  • Honor a colleague or mentor who showed outstanding leadership
  • Share your personal experience as a radiologist during this unprecedented time

Selected Gold Medal Stories will be published in ARRS InPractice, in print and/or online. Your ARRS membership must be current for consideration.

SHARE YOUR STORY