Khanna named chief of pediatric radiology

Geetika Khanna, MD, a professor of radiology, has been named chief of pediatric radiology for Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Khanna, who served as interim chief for the past year, also assumes the role of radiologist-in-chief at St. Louis Children’s Hospital (SLCH). She will treat patients through Siteman Kids at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, a partnership between the hospital and Siteman Cancer Center focused on caring for children and adolescents with cancer, using the latest, most effective treatments, in a setting geared to younger patients and their families.

“Geetika is a tremendous leader, a go-to physician and was the top candidate for the job after a national search” said Richard L. Wahl, MD, the Elizabeth E. Mallinckrodt Professor and head of radiology, and director of MIR.

Khanna came to the School of Medicine in 2008 from the University of Iowa, where she was an assistant professor. Over the last several years, she has taken on leadership roles in pediatric radiology, most notably in pediatric oncology and pediatric MRI. Among her roles, she has served on Mallinckrodt’s Quality and Safety Committee and on SLCH’s Team for Quality Improvement in Emergency Services.

“We were very fortunate to have recruited Geetika,” Wahl said. “Under her direction and expertise with pediatric body imaging, the MRI practice was modernized, and the application of MRI has been expanded.”

Khanna has authored several clinical and translational research publications, is assistant editor for the journal Pediatric Radiology, and has served as the site principal investigator for clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She is also the diagnostic imaging chair for the renal tumor committee of the Children’s Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute-supported co-operative group that conducts clinical trials in pediatric oncology.

Khanna earned her medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. She trained in diagnostic radiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine and at the University of Iowa College of Medicine, where she completed a pediatric radiology fellowship.