Mission/Vision

The department of Radiology is committed to research as a critical component of the academic enterprise. Our research mission is to collaborate in high-quality clinical research that requires cutting-edge imaging and to conduct high-quality medical imaging research that advances the practice of radiology. We will accomplish this through excellence in collaboration, interpretive skills, technology, and education.

Core Organizational Competencies  

• Fostering interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships through medical imaging
• Conducting high-quality imaging with integrity to research protocols
• Providing subspecialty expert imaging interpretations
• training future generations of clinical and imaging scientists

Achala Vagal, MD, MS
Vice Chair of Research

• View Dr.Achala Vagal Profile
• @vagal01

Organizational Values

The UCMD Department of Radiology is enthused with passion for excellence, integrity and teamwork in research. We are dedicated to providing world-class medical imaging for scientific underpinnings translating to improved health of our patients and community and to bring best practices from research to improve clinical care.

Leadership

Achala Vagal, MD, MS - Vice Chair of Research

Dr. Achala Vagal is a tenured Professor of Radiology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine, Executive Vice Chair and Vice Chair of Research of the Department of Radiology. She is also the Associate Dean of Clinical and Translational Research at UC College of Medicine and the Co-Director of Center of Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST). Her overall research focuses on imaging biomarkers and brain health in ischemic stroke and intracranial hemorrhage and has more than two decades of experience in the imaging of cerebrovascular diseases.

 She has extensive experience leading imaging cores for large national and international multicenter stroke trials and population studies. She is the PI of the NIH StrokeNET Imaging Management Center, currently leading all imaging-related activities for clinical trials, including MOST, FASTEST, VERIFY, CAPTIVA, CAPTIVA-MR, SISTER, and STEP trial. She also leads imaging core labs for the NIH-funded ROSE, ROSE-LAWN, ERICH-Gene, and i3C DECADE studies, the PCORI-funded TESTED, and the industry-sponsored ENDOLOW trial. She oversees all core imaging activities, including site training, image collection, imaging protocol harmonization, central interpretation, and imaging analysis. She is the contact PI of the NIH-funded R01 grant APRISE, a population-based study characterizing imaging to build innovative prediction models for stroke recurrence, as well as the NINDS and NIA-funded RF1 grant APRISE-Dementia studying post-stroke dementia. She is also a multi-PI of NIH StrokeNET U01 VERIFY, which is studying TMS and MRI for upper extremity recovery and MPI of the UM1 NCATS funded CCTST.

 Dr. Vagal is actively involved in cross disciplinary collaborations in clinical and translational research at national and international levels, leading diverse multidisciplinary teams. Her roles have included being the radiology leader of the NIH StrokeNET and Cincinnati clinical site’s Clinical Trial Working Group for the NINDS Network of Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials, NIH Neurological Emergencies Treatment Trials Network, and Strategies to Innovate EmeRgENcy Care Clinical Trials Network. She serves on numerous committees in national and international organizations with multiple leadership positions. She is recipient of multiple awards, including the Stroke Innovation Award at the 2019 International Conference, the 2019 ASNR Women in Neuroradiology Leadership Award and a two-time recipient of RSNA Honored Educator Award, the 2021 Faculty Core Values award winner and multiple time UC outstanding sponsored awardee.