Runge served in leadership positions within numerous professional organizations. She was president of the Northern California Society of Hospital Pharmacists in 1963 and the California Society of Hospital Pharmacists in 1967. She served on the California State Board of Pharmacy, and was the president of the California Pharmacists Association in 1974. Runge served as the first female APhA representative to the American College of Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE) from 1972–1982. In 1979, Runge was sworn in as the president of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). As an African American female, her appointment ended a 126-year history of Caucasian males serving as APhA's president. Notably, she was also the first employee community pharmacist to have been a president of APhA, rather than an owner of a community pharmacy. As part of her tenure as APhA president, Runge formally created the APhA Task Force on Women in Pharmacy, as well as APhA's Office of Women's Affairs. Her two terms ended in 1981.
