Clinical Leadership Announcements
I am pleased to announce three new leadership appointments in the department, key roles designed to work closely with UCSF Health managers, help guide our outpatient expansion, and continue to provide excellent care for our patients.
Kimberly Kallianos, MD, will serve as Modality Director for CT and Javier Villanueva-Meyer, MD will serve as Modality Director for MRI, effective March 1, 2021. Jesse Courtier, MD, will serve as Clinical Director for the Mission Bay Hospitals.
Modality directors hold departmental accountability for administrative and programmatic oversight of operations, capital projects, and quality and safety for specific imaging modalities. They work together with UCSF Health modality managers and departmental leadership ensure that operations, teams and allocated space align with overall departmental and institutional goals.
The clinical director for Mission Bay Hospitals serves as an administrative leader in the department who works in close partnership with UCSF Health managers and administrative leadership to ensure smooth clinical operations, high-quality imaging and safe patient care at our Mission Bay Hospitals.
Congratulations to these three faculty members on their new appointments. We are grateful for their commitments to patient care in these roles.
Christopher P. Hess, MD, PhD
Alexander R. Margulis Distinguished Professor and Chair
Dr. Kimberly Kallianos, Modality Director, CT, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiology in the Cardiac and Pulmonary Imaging section specializes in interpreting cardiothoracic CT and MRI exams, chest radiographs, and CT-guided lung biopsies. Dr. Kallianos is active in both clinical decision-making and teaching conferences including preoperative trans-catheter aortic valve replacement, pediatric cardiac surgery, thoracic tumor board, adult congenital cardiology, and multidisciplinary conferences for thoracic conditions (VA) and interstitial lung disease. She joined the department in 2017.
Dr. Kallianos conducts collaborative research focusing on the use of cardiac magnetic resonance for assessment of myocardial disease including strain imaging in pulmonary hypertension and T2 analyses for myocardial iron overload. She also conducts quality improvement research, including radiation dose reduction and resident/faculty agreement in interpretation of coronary computed tomography angiography.
Dr. Javier Villanueva-Meyer, Modality Director, MRI, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Radiology in the Neuroradiology section specializes in imaging of the brain, head and neck, spine, and peripheral nervous system. He also conducts diagnostic and therapeutic neuroradiology procedures and is active in adult neuro-oncology tumor board. He joined the department in 2017.
Dr. Villanueva-Meyer’s main body of research focuses on advanced MR and molecular imaging to better delineate and characterize brain tumors. Additionally, he leads the neuroradiology section's operations and quality improvement efforts.
Dr. Jesse Courtier, Clinical Director, Mission Bay Hospitals specializes in interpreting pediatric patient imaging from CT, MRI, ultrasound, plain film and fluoroscopy for the thoracic, abdominal/pelvic, and musculoskeletal systems. Dr. Courtier’s primary research interests include investigation of Augmented Reality applications in medical imaging for use in training and surgical planning. Additional interests include technique optimization in pediatric and fetal body MR applications for urography and enterography.
As an educator, Dr. Courtier serves as the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Site Director of Training for the Mission Bay Hospital, Director of the Pediatric Radiology Fellowship, and Chair of the Radiology Residency Clinical Competency Committee. Dr. Courtier has received the UCSF Department of Radiology Fellow Teaching Award, Haile T. Debas Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Department of Radiology Hideo Minagi Teaching Award.
Dr. Courtier will also serve as Interim Chief, Pediatric Radiology while the search for a permanent section chief continues.