Val Murray Runge (born August 28, 1956, in Austin, Texas) is an American and Swiss professor of radiology and the editor-in-chief of Investigative Radiology. Runge was one of the early researchers to investigate the use of gadolinium-based contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), giving the first presentation in this field (in 1982), followed two years later by the first presentation of efficacy (in 1984). His research also pioneered many early innovations in MRI, including the use of tilted planes (for standardization of brain imaging, in 1987) and respiratory gating (for liver imaging, in 1984). His publication on multiple sclerosis in 1984 represented the third and largest clinical series (to that date) investigating the role of MRI in this disease, and the first to show ch