At the 2024 ACR Annual Meeting, the American College of Radiology Association^® (ACRA^®) named Mark Yeh, MD, FACR, the Radiology Advocacy Network (RAN) Advocate of the Year. 

Yeh, diagnostic radiologist and partner at Sierra Imaging Associates in Fresno, Calif., is a local, state and national radiological society leader and is a member of the ACR RAN Board. This month, he answers a few questions from the Bulletin about the origins of his advocacy efforts.

When did you attend your first ACR Annual Meeting?

I attended my first ACR Annual Meeting in 2004, two years after finishing my fellowship training. I wanted to participate in Capitol Hill Day, meet my legislators and earn a few CME credits in the process. While at that meeting, I ran into my fellowship director, the illustrious late William G. Bradley Jr., MD, PhD, FACR, former ACR Vice President and Gold Medalist, and he invited me to attend the California Radiological Society (CRS) caucus meeting. I was able to meet the important people in my state society, and once I realized what the CRS and the ACR were all about, I was hooked. I have not missed an annual meeting since, even diligently attending the virtual meetings during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. My only regret is that I had not gotten involved earlier in my training years.

Who were your mentors in advocacy?

Bob Achermann, JD (former CRS Executive Director extraordinaire and 2023 recipient of the ACR Distinguished Service Award), Gail C. Hansen, MD, FACR, and Roger H. Thomas, MD, FACR (former CRS presidents), and Mark D. Alson, MD, FACR, were my key mentors. 

Bob Achermann and Dr. Hansen initiated me into the CRS and helped me get my feet wet in advocacy in California and in Washington, D.C. Bob was our fearless leader in the early days when the ACR began its annual Capitol Hill days and taught all of us how to present our issues to our legislators, particularly during our Senate visits.

I was able to meet the important people in my state society, and once I realized what the CRS and the ACR were all about, I was hooked.

Dr. Hansen was more of a personal mentor as she often accompanied me early on when we visited our representatives from our districts. Dr. Thomas was instrumental in promoting RADPAC^®, ACRA’s political action committee, to the CRS and had the confidence to hand off the RADPAC leadership role to me when he retired. 

Dr. Alson continues to be a mentor and advocacy partner as we advocate for radiology as members of the Medicare Carrier Advisory Committee and as we often partner on Capitol Hill to visit our representatives. Lastly but certainly not least, I must credit Ted Burnes, Director of RADPAC, as being one of my most revered mentors in advocacy on the national level. I turn to him first for advocacy issues since my entrée into the ACR. Ted is a wealth of knowledge, not just about the issues, but about how the process works in D.C. 

Why is “radvocacy” important to you? 

The democratic process is important to me. The idea that any ordinary citizen can have a voice and affect policy change at the local and national levels is central to improving all our lives. I immigrated from Taiwan when I was young, and at that time Taiwan was under the rule of martial law, so the freedom to voice one’s opinion was not an option. When I arrived in the United States, I remember as an elementary school student writing a letter to President Jimmy Carter and then actually receiving a response! I was amazed, and that feeling of awe has stuck with me ever since. 

I say this with the understanding that I’ve been fortunate enough to have numerous educational and life opportunities, but radvocacy (and advocacy in general) is a chance to give back so that radiologists can be best equipped to serve our patients, who deserve equal access to the best care that we can offer. Our legislators have a lot of issues presented to them daily, and it is up to us to present them with important issues in radiology and medicine and to help them prioritize their actions. 

Radiologists and our other medical colleagues are frequently presented with barriers, often related to payment but also in regulations, that hinder our ability to adequately take care of patients, and it is only through advocacy that we can overcome many of these barriers. Advocacy is also an opportunity for us, as experts in our field, to educate legislators about these important issues in medicine since most of them do not have medical backgrounds.

What do you want legislators to know about radiology?

Radiologists have been called the doctors’ doctors. Why? Because radiology is involved in almost every patient’s care, since providers often rely on imaging findings to determine the next course of action in a patient’s care plan. This points to how policy changes that affect radiology will also significantly affect the care of our patients (their constituents). As such, legislators need to listen when the house of radiology has an opinion.

What would you tell a trainee regarding the importance of advocacy and involvement?

My one piece of advice is to get involved in whatever way is feasible. Getting involved may be as simple as paying dues and being a member of your state chapter and the ACR or making a contribution to RADPAC. Getting involved can also mean more hands-on work, such as meeting with your legislators, responding to calls to action whenever there are important issues to be addressed or volunteering as leaders in your local, state or national medical societies. The most important piece of advice is not to be complacent. Radiology, medicine and our patients are all too precious for us not to be involved.