Welcome New Faculty
Welcome to the newest members of our faculty who joined the Department of Radiology in 2024!
Hannah Bae, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Bae joined Columbia Radiology's interventional radiology division as an assistant professor of radiology. She earned her medical degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine and completed her diagnostic radiology residency at Northwell Health/Staten Island University, where she served as chief resident. Dr. Bae completed an interventional radiology fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Jason Birnbaum, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Birnbaum joined Columbia Radiology as an assistant professor of radiology in two divisions: the Division of Emergency Radiology and the Division of Abdominal Imaging. Dr. Birnbaum received his medical degree from the University of Rochester and completed his diagnostic radiology residency training at Montefiore Medical Center, where he served as chief resident. He then completed a Body MRI Fellowship at NYU. He joins our department from Mt. Sinai.
Nicolas Bloch, MD
Professor of Radiology
Dr. Bloch joined the Division of Breast Imaging as professor of radiology and will serve as the program director for our Breast Imaging Fellowship. He is a highly accomplished radiologist who has made major contributions to translating state-of-the-art imaging techniques to the care of his patients, with a dual focus on breast and prostate imaging. Dr. Bloch's many significant accomplishments include the development of a novel multimodal breast biopsy marker which was patented in 2015 and received FDA clearance for clinical use this year. He is also a pioneer of multiparametric prostate MRI, having developed a computer aided design analysis software for prostate DCE MRI. He was among the first investigators to report the clinical utility of endorectal 3T MRI scanners. His early work led to the development of the first prostate MRI program in Austria, which gained an international reputation, and he later helped build and lead the Prostate MRI Programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Boston University Medical Center.
Ruth Carlos, MD, MS
Professor of Radiology
Dr. Carlos joined the Division of Abdominal Imaging as professor of radiology and will serve as associate chair of research faculty development for the department. In addition, she will be the director of research in outcomes and care delivery for the Center for Imaging Biomarkers and Innovation in Integrated Diagnostics (CIMBID). Dr. Carlos is a pioneer and distinguished leader in the field of radiology, with many prestigious leadership positions that have shaped the direction of radiology research and practice. She is the first woman editor-in-chief of a major radiology journal, the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR), and she has served as president of the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS), the Association of University Radiologists (AUR), and the Radiology Alliance for Health Services Research in Radiology. Currently, she chairs the GE AUR Research Radiology Academic Fellowship (GERRAF), a national program supporting early-stage investigators in health services research and care delivery. Her influence extends to national policy, evidenced by her role as co-chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Care Delivery Research (CCDR) Development Committee, and she lends her expertise as a thought leader to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Quality Forum, and the Joint Commission. Her wealth of expertise spans health services research and policy, health equity, and structural racism. Most recently, Dr. Carlos' work has focused on social genomics, the negative biological effects of social and economic marginalization and imaging biomarkers.
Victoria Chernyak, MD, MS
Professor of Radiology
Dr. Chernyak joined the Division of Abdominal Imaging as professor of radiology. She is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the subspecialty of liver imaging and imaging of liver cancers and is one of the leading authorities of the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS). Dr. Chernyak's many contributions to the field include serving as co-chair of the American College of Radiology's LI-RADS Steering Committee as well as co-editor of the 2018 LI-RADS Manual, and co-leading the creation of a clear and concise universal liver imaging lexicon that has been adopted internationally. She is also a passionate educator who has been recognized for her engaging and educational lectures by numerous awards. Dr. Chernyak is the editor for Radiology in Training, a program which mentors senior radiology residents and fellows in the art of scientific review, editing, and publishing. She is an author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications and co-PI on several American College of Radiology funded grants. She serves as deputy editor of Radiology and is a member of the scientific committees for several societies including the Society for Abdominal Radiology and RSNA.
Michael David, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. David joined Columbia Radiology's emergency radiology division as an assistant professor of radiology. He received his medical degree from the American Medical Program at Tel Aviv University and completed a diagnostic radiology residency at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, which was followed by a fellowship in musculoskeletal radiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Stella Kang, MD, MS
Professor of Radiology
Dr. Kang joined the Division of Abdominal Imaging as professor of radiology and will serve as vice chair of clinical research for the department. She joins us from New York University, where she served as associate chair of population health imaging and outcomes for the Department of Radiology. An internationally recognized leader in outcomes research, health care delivery science, and technology assessment, Dr. Kang is an NIH-funded clinician-scientist and is the founding director of a new, multidisciplinary center at Columbia dedicated to translating new diagnostics into clinical care, the Center for Advanced Diagnostic Research (CADRe).
Despina Kontos, PhD
Herbert and Florence Irving Professor of Radiological Sciences
Dr. Kontos is a computer scientist with expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data analytics for multi-modality imaging data. She is the chief research information officer for Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC). She is also the vice chair of artificial intelligence and data science research in the Department of Radiology and director of biomarker imaging at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Kontos is the founding director of Columbia University's Center for Innovation in Imaging Biomarkers and Integrated Diagnostics (CIMBID), a multidisciplinary center dedicated to developing and integrating quantitative imaging and non-imaging biomarkers for personalized disease prediction, particularly in cancer. Dr. Kontos has made seminal contributions to the leveraging of artificial intelligence tools for risk prediction in breast and lung cancer. Her research program focuses on investigating the role of imaging as a quantitative biomarker for improving cancer screening, prognostication, and treatment. She has developed innovative computational methodologies that have enabled the investigation of novel cancer phenotypic biomarkers via imaging, and has translated these biomarkers through extensive clinical and epidemiologic studies to answer important research questions for personalizing cancer care.
Sakshi Khurana, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Khurana joined Columbia Radiology in the Divisions of Abdominal and Cardiothoracic Imaging. Dr. Khurana received her medical degree from Lady Harding Medical College in New Delhi, India. Her passion for advanced learning brought her to United States where she pursued her multiple fellowships in cardiothoracic imaging, abdominal imaging, and nuclear medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, before joining the department as faculty.
George Kourlas, PharmD, ANP, BCNP
Assitant Professor of Radiological Sciences (in Radiology)
George joined our PET Center as an Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences (in Radiology). He is a board-certified nuclear pharmacist, joining us from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. George received his Doctor of Pharmacy Degree (PharmD) with Honors from the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at Long Island University.
Ola Kvist, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Kvist joined the Division of Pediatric Radiology as an assistant professor of radiology. He joins our department from the Karolinska University Hospital, in Stockholm, Sweden, where he has led the pediatric radiology department since 2020. Dr. Kvist trained in medicine and in radiology at the University of Gothenburg. He completed a Pediatric Radiology Fellowship at Karolinska University Hospital before obtaining his PhD in 2023, where his thesis was focused on applying novel imaging approaches to bone and growth plate imaging. Dr. Kvist will continue his research assessing the growth plate with MRI and other advanced imaging techniques here at Columbia.
Roberto Lo Gullo, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Lo Gullo joined our Division of Breast Imaging as an assistant professor of radiology. His research focus is on artificial intelligence and machine learning for personalized breast cancer screening. Dr. Lo Gullo received his medical degree from the University of Messina in Italy and completed his diagnostic radiology residency training at the University of Milano. He joins our department from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he completed a breast/body imaging fellowship before joining the faculty in 2021.
Nahill Matari, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Matari returned to Columbia Radiology after completing his Neuroradiology Fellowship here in 2022-23. He then completed a second fellowship in breast imaging at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Matari joins our Division of Breast Imaging as an assistant professor of radiology and he will eventually serve in both our breast and neuroradiology divisions. He earned his medical degree from New York Medical College and completed a diagnostic radiology residency at Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School, where he served as Chief Resident. He will be practicing at Milstein Hospital.
Kiyon Naser-Tavakolian, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Naser-Tavakolian joined our interventional radiology division as an assistant professor of radiology. He completed his fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2022-23, after which he worked at Hackensack University Medical Center. Dr. Naser-Tavakolian received his medical degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine and completed a diagnostic radiology residency at Stony Brook University Hospital, where he served as academic chief resident.
Sam Payabvash, MD
Associate Professor of Radiology
Dr. Payabvash joined our Division of Neuroradiology as an associate professor of radiology and also serves as director of clinical translation and innovation for the Center for Innovation in Imaging Biomarkers and Integrated Diagnostics (CIMBID). A highly accomplished neuroradiologist and scientist, Dr. Payabvash's extensive body of research is primarily focused on the application of machine learning to neuroimaging, with a focus on the development of tools to guide treatment for cerebrovascular diseases. Among his many contributions to the field are multiple machine learning models designed to risk-stratify and provide treatment guidance for patients with ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. He is also recognized for his research on neurodevelopment and brain injury and has applied advanced imaging techniques and machine learning to evaluate microstructural changes in the brain of neonates and children who are at risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and sensory processing disorders. The author of more than 190 publications, Dr. Payabvash serves as principal investigator on grants from the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Radiological Society of North America, American Society of Neuroradiology and NVIDIA Applied Research Accelerator Program. He is the recipient of several honors and awards, including selection for the Academy Council of Early Career Investigators in Imaging (CECI²), which recognizes the early career achievements of researchers.
Katja Pinker-Domenig, MD, PhD
Professor of Radiology
Dr. Pinker-Domenig joined the department as chief of the Division of Breast Imaging. She is an is an internationally renowned physician-scientist, widely recognized for her work advancing the field of breast MRI through the development, improvement, and implementation of MRI biomarkers for breast cancer diagnosis and prognostication. At Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Pinker-Domenig pioneered high-resolution high-field breast MRI and led the adoption of multiparametric breast MRI imaging into clinical care. Her current research is focused on advanced functional multimodality breast imaging and the implementation of artificial intelligence in the breast care paradigm, with the overarching goal of enabling precision medicine in breast care.
Dorothy Sippo, MD, MPH
Associate Professor of Radiology
Dr. Sippo joined Columbia Radiology as vice chair of informatics and associate professor of radiology in the Division of Breast Imaging. A respected informaticist, her extensive experience includes the development and implementation of an automated feedback system for breast imaging radiologists at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), an innovation that led to a measurable improvement in mammography performance metrics across the division. She also applied informatics methods to develop breast MRI research databases at Brigham and Women’s and MGH.
Eitan Sosner, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Sosner joined the department in the Division of Musculoskeletal Radiology. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history before attending medical school at Stony Brook University. He completed his internship at NYU Langone Hospital—Long Island and his residency at Montefiore Medical Center before completing a fellowship in musculoskeletal radiology at New England Baptist Hospital.
Janice Sung, MD
Associate Professor of Radiology
Dr. Sung joined our department as associate chief of the Division of Breast Imaging. Her research focus while at Memorial Sloan Kettering was on imaging for early breast cancer detection in women who are at intermediate and high risk for developing breast cancer. Dr. Sung has co-authored multiple scientific articles defining groups of women who will benefit from screening that is more intensive than routine, annual mammography. She is frequently invited to lecture on this and other topics in breast imaging and has been named a fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging.
Marcy Susman, MD
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Susman joined our Division of Breast Imaging as an assistant professor of radiology and serves our midtown Manhattan location. He received his medical degree from SUNY Downstate and completed his diagnostic radiology residency at SUNY Downstate, where he served as chief resident. He joins us after serving as the founder and director of Beekman Radiology, a Manhattan based practice dedicated to breast imaging, for the past 23 years.
John Zech, MD, MA
Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dr. Zech rejoins Columbia Radiology as faculty in the Division of Musculoskeletal Radiology, after completing his residency here from 2019 to 2023. He completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard College and went on to obtain a master's degree in statistics at Columbia University. He obtained his medical degree at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where he graduated with Distinction in Research. After his residency, Dr. Zech completed a Musculoskeletal Imaging Fellowship at NYU Langone Health. His research on the application of artificial intelligence to radiology has been featured in journals that include Radiology, Nature: Medicine, and PLOS Medicine and has been cited over 2,500 times. He serves on the editorial board of Radiology: Artificial Intelligence.