College of Medicine recruits new Department of Radiology chair from Harvard Medical School

The Ohio State University College of Medicine’s Department of Radiology continues to transform health care through its ongoing innovations in basic and applied imaging research and development. These breakthroughs have helped usher in image-guided diagnosis and interventions for patients while augmenting student and trainee educational experiences.

Carol R. Bradford, MD, MS, FACS, dean of The Ohio State University College of Medicine, says the recruitment of Pari Pandharipande, MD, MPH, FACR, a leading expert in the field of radiology and health outcomes, is a big win for the college. Dr. Pandharipande’s expertise will further propel the college’s development of leading-edge technologies and imaging modalities to better diagnose and treat a disease during its early stages, which could affect patient outcomes and save lives.

An abdominal radiologist, Dr. Pandharipande comes to The Ohio State University from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), where she serves as an associate professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, associate chair of Integrated Imaging and Imaging Sciences in MGH’s Department of Radiology and the executive director of Clinical Enterprise Integration for Mass General Brigham Radiology. She’s also the director of the MGH Institute for Technology Assessment, a multidisciplinary health outcomes research institute.

“The field of radiology is crucial to medical care,” says Dr. Bradford. “Dr. Pandharipande’s entire body of work focuses on ensuring every patient encounter with imaging adds value to their care.”

Dr. Pandharipande’s research, which has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and American Cancer Society, is centered in imaging, decision science, health outcomes, disease modeling, and risk analysis, with a primary focus in cancer outcomes. Her research team leveraged decision science methods to establish and also refute the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of imaging technologies in several clinical scenarios, and have brought new evidence and insights to their role in cancer care.

Nationally, Dr. Pandharipande has served on grant review committees of the NIH, American Cancer Society, and Radiological Society of North America/Association of University Radiologists, and currently serves as chair of the Healthcare Outcomes, Policy, and Systems grant review committee for the American Cancer Society. She holds editorial board positions for several leading radiology journals and has served on multiple national committees related to health policy and imaging.

In 2020, she completed a term as president of the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research for the Association of University Radiologists, and in 2021 was elected as chair of the Incidental Findings Committee for the American College of Radiology.

 After earning her medical degree from the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, she completed her residency in Diagnostic Radiology at New York University, and an NCI-sponsored fellowship in cancer outcomes research and abdominal imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital. During her fellowship, she also completed an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health.

“Our college is committed to developing physicians and clinicians who provide evidence-based and effective medical care,” says Dr. Bradford. “Dr. Pandharipande’s work informs the shifting health care environment and will greatly influence our ability to continually evolve to meet the ever-changing demands in medicine.”