BIDMC Radiology Researchers

 

Research Scientists | ​​​​Physics & Informatics | Abdominal Imaging & Interventions | Cardiothoracic Imaging | Breast Imaging | Musculoskeletal Imaging & Interventions | Neuroradiology | Nuclear Medicine | Vascular & Interventional Radiology | Research Fellows 

Research Scientists

David Alsop, PhD

Dr. Alsop's work focuses on developing and improving MRI techniques, especially those that provide new sensitivity to physiology and pathophysiology, and collaborating on their application to the study, treatment, and diagnosis of disease.

 

Aaron Grant, PhD

 

 

Gopal Varma, PhD 

Dr. Varma's research focuses on MRI of tissue microstructure and the use of his MR physics background to develop new pulse sequences and quantitative analyses, as well as translation between preclinical high-field experiments and clinical 3T MRI.

 

Deborah Burstein, PhD

 

 

Physics and Informatics

Matthew Palmer, PhD 

Dr. Palmer’s research involves protocols, analysis schemes, and methodologies for improved quantitative imaging in PET and SPECT, as well as the development of apparatus and procedures for improved quality assurance in clinical medical physics.

 

 

Christopher MacLellan, PhD

 

 

Christopher Olguin, PhD

 

 

Chun-Shan (Sam) Yam, PhD

 

 

Clinical Researchers

Abdominal Imaging and Interventions 

Fourie Bezuidenhout, MD 

Dr. Bezuidenhout focuses his research endeavors on benign and malignant pancreatic pathologies. As a co-director of the multidisciplinary Pancreatic Cancer Program at BIDMC, chair of the national Society of Abdominal Radiology's Pancreatitis Disease Focus Panel, and member of national and international pancreatic cancer study groups, he has multiple ongoing collaborative research efforts targeting pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer. Dr. Bezuidenhout is also initiating a multidisciplinary collaborative research effort in correlating radiomics and pathology on ex-vivo human pancreatic cancer specimens on preclinical 9.4T MRI.  

 

Olga R. Brook, MD, MBA 

Dr. Brook's research theme is improving patient outcomes through imaging and interventions.  Her latest grant-funded project is developing a prospective process for concordance assessment of pathology results with imaging findings after image-guided biopsy. Prior projects included disease-specific structured reporting, incidental pancreatic and ovarian findings management, safety and efficacy of image-guided procedures, and CT image quality improvement with iterative reconstructions and spectral imaging. 

 

Jonathan Kruskal, MD, PhD 

  

 

Bettina Siewert, MD 

  

 

James Rawson, MD 

Dr. Rawson’s research interests include process improvement in radiology operations, value in healthcare through health system redesign, and health policy. 

 

 

 

 

Jesse Wei, MD 

  

 

Martin Smith, MD 

  

 

Gabriela Gayer, MD 

  

 

Katja De Paepe, MD, PhD 

Dr. De Paepe’s research primarily focuses on hepatobiliary disease, with a specific emphasis on identifying imaging markers to improve diagnosis and prognostication in chronic liver disease and liver cancers. In addition, Dr. De Paepe brings prior expertise in whole-body MRI for diagnosis and treatment response assessment in hematological cancers (lymphoma, multiple myeloma), breast cancer, and hereditary cancer syndromes.  

 

Charlotte Charbel, MD 

  

 

Cardiothoracic Imaging

Ronald Eisenberg, MD 

Dr. Eisenberg's most important work has been the publication of multiple textbooks, several of which were completed in the last few years. The most recent titles are "What Radiology Residents Need to Know: Chest Radiology" (Springer 2020), "What Radiology Residents Need to Know: Musculoskeletal Radiology" (Springer 2022), and "Comprehensive Radiographic Pathology" (8th edition) – Elsevier, spring 2024.  

 

Ritu Gill, MD 

  

 

Diana Litmanovich, MD 

  

 

Paul Spirn, MD  

  

 

Genelle Gittens-Backus, MD

 

 

Emergency Radiology

Karen Lee, MD  

Dr. Lee’s research interests focus on MRI of emergent abdominal conditions and reducing unnecessary or redundant abdominal and pelvic imaging in the emergent setting. 

 

Robin Levenson, MD  

  

 

Elisa Flower, MD  

  

 

Andrew Bennett, MD, PhD  

  

 

Padmaja Surapaneni, MD

 

 

Musculoskeletal Imaging and Interventions

Jennifer Cutts, MD, MBA  

Dr. Cutts' scholarly interests center on the workforce development of the entire radiology team. Current projects relate to optimizing educational methods, understanding personnel perceptions in the care of transgender patients, and evaluating causes of moral distress in trainees and program directors.   

 

 

Mary Hochman, MD 

  

 

Aparna Komarraju, MD 

  

 

Justin Kung, MD 

  

 

Charlotte Charbel, MD 

  

 

Neuroradiology

David Hackney, MD 

  

 

Alice Fisher, MD 

  

 

Yu-Ming Chang, MD, PhD 

  

 

Pritesh Mehta, MD 

  

 

Donella Comeau, MD 

  

 

Elizabeth Du, MD 

  

 

Shervin Kamalian, MD 

Dr. Kamalian's research and clinical interests have primarily focused on advanced neuroimaging in acute ischemic stroke, neurological applications of Dual Energy CT, and CT protocol optimization for radiation dose reduction.

 

 

Rafeeque A. Bhadelia, MD, DMR, MB, BS 

Dr. Bhadelia’s research seeks to advance novel imaging techniques to improve treatment outcomes. Notably, Dr. Bhadelia focuses on the detection of CSF and brain motion using MRI and its application in the diagnosis and management of CSF circulation disorders, especially in patients with Chiari I malformation. Dr. Bhadelia also studies the relationship between diet and cognition as a co-investigator in the NIH-funded community-based Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS).

 

Rafael Rojas, MD 

Dr. Rojas’ research interests include brain-functional MRI, neuroimaging in brain tumors, and neuroimaging in substance use disorder.

 

 

Salil Soman, MD, MS

The Soman Laboratory for Neuroimaging (SLN) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center pursues the application of advanced neuroimaging to neurological disorders. The laboratory's research encompasses the development and application of advanced MRI techniques to enhance the diagnosis and understanding of neurological conditions. Dr. Soman’s work involves applications of computation techniques to susceptibility imaging to improve the detection and characterization of diseases and biomarkers, including cerebral microbleeds, intracranial hemorrhages, and the structural integrity of the brain. His research also extends to exploring the potential of neuroimaging biomarkers for multiple sclerosis, investigating the effects of antiplatelet medications on patients with primary brain tumors, and identifying cardiovascular risk factors impacting cerebrovascular reactivity. Through a combination of editorial roles and collaborative studies, Dr. Soman contributes significantly to the fields of neuroimaging and neurology, focusing on applying MRI to address complex clinical questions and enhance patient care.

Vascular and Interventional Radiology

Muneeb Ahmed, MD 

  

 

Seth Berkowitz, MD 

  

 

Ammar Sarwar, MD 

  

 

Jeffrey Weinstein, MD 

Dr. Weinstein performs research on emerging technologies in medical education including motion analysis and simulation. Additionally, Dr. Weinstein is clinically interested in research involving lymphatic and venous interventions. 

 

 

Salomao Faintuch, MD 

  

 

Sarah Schroeppel DeBacker, MD 

  

 

Julie Bulman, MD 

  

 

Marwan Moussa, MD 

  

 

Vijay Ramalingam, MD 

Dr. Ramalingam’s research interests include projects related to the management and treatment of patients with splanchnic venous thrombosis as well as advanced portal venous interventions. Additionally, he is interested in work related to evaluating sustainable development of global healthcare delivery and tumor ablation.  

 

 

Colin J. McCarthy, MD 

Dr. McCarthy's research interests include projects related to developing and evaluating new technologies to improve patient care and experience, including telemedicine, virtual and augmented reality, large language models, and others.

 

 

Sahil Mehta, MD

 

 

Diana C. Dinh, MD, MPH

Dr. Dinh's research interests include outcomes research in liver-directed therapies and interventional oncology, including Y90 radioembolization for HCC.  

 

 

  

Nuclear Medicine

Gerald M. Kolodny, MD 

Use of large arrays of radiolabeled aptamers for cancer diagnosis and treatment to reduce drug resistance and toxicity. 

 

Kevin J. Donohoe, MD 

  

 

Tony Parker, MD 

  

 

Breast Imaging

Vandana Dialani, MB, BS 

 

 

Janet K. Baum, MD 

  

 

Farhana Sharmeen, MD 

  

 

Visiting Professor

Stephanie Nougaret, MD 

Dr. Nougaret is an associate professor at the Montpellier Cancer Institute in the South of France and her clinical and research interests are in gynecological, rectal, and pancreatic cancer. She is conducting her research in gynecological imaging and expanding further on her interest in preclinical imaging models working on high-field MRI. 

 

Research Fellows

Sepideh Abdi, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Donnella Comeau, MD

 

 

 

Mahsa Alborzi Avanaki, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PIs: Donnella Comeau, MD / David Hackney, MD

 

 

 

 

Manisha Bohara, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Fourie Bezuidenhout, MD

 

 

 

Mohamed Farghaly, MD
HMS Research Fellow    
PIs: Marwan Moussa, MD / Muneeb Ahmed, MD

 

 

 

Narjes Jaafar-Snee, MD
HMS Research Fellow    
PI: David Alsop, PhD

 

 

 

Muhammad Khaliq, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Salil Soman, MD

 

 

 

 

Yuval Liberman, MD
HMS Research Fellow
PI: Diana Litmanovich, MD

 

 

 

Aurelija Liubauske, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern    
PI: Diana Litmanovich, MD

 

 

 

Oussama Metrouh, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Jeffrey Weinstein, MD

 

 

 

Omar Msto Hussain Nasser, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern    
PI: James Rawson, MD

 

 

 

Ivan Queiros, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Diana Litmanovich, MD

 

 

 

Sheikh Muhammad Usman Shami, MD 
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Ammar Sarwar, MD

 

 

 

Muhammad Mohid Tahir, MD
HMS Research Fellow
PI: Ammar Sarwar, MD

 

 

 

Gerome B. Vallejos, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern 
PI: Salil Soman, MD

 

 

 

Mohamad Hotait
Research IS Developer
PI: Seth Berkowitz, MD

 

Tamkin Shahraki, MD
HMS Research Fellow Intern
PI: Salil Soman, MD

 

Agarwal Surabhi, MD
HMS Research Fellow    
PI: Diana Litmanovich, MD