Radiologist-in-Chief
Head, Pediatric Radiology and Imaging

Job Announcement 

The Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) of the University of Southern California (USC) Department of Pediatrics and the Department of Radiology and Imaging at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) are actively seeking a full-time board-certified physician leader for the position of Radiologist-in-Chief and Head of Pediatric Radiology and Imaging at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and Vice Chair, Pediatric Radiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. The academic rank of the successful candidate will be as a full Professor of Radiology.

CHLA is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers devoted to children. At the forefront of pediatric medicine, CHLA is home to renowned experts who work together across disciplines to deliver exceptional care, drive advances in pediatric medicine and help set standards of care across the nation and around the globe. Driven by a culture of innovation, the hospital’s principles of research and discovery are embedded in every aspect of care. The best and brightest come to work at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles because they are deeply dedicated to providing life-changing, lifesaving care for a truly diverse population of children—including many from underserved communities—all in a culturally sensitive and family-friendly environment.

World-Class Clinical Care
CHLA pediatric specialists deliver a level of care that is consistently recognized among the best in the world. Newsweek magazine ranks CHLA among the top five hospitals in the world specializing in pediatrics, and third in the nation. U.S. News & World Report ranks CHLA among the top 10 children’s hospitals in the country every year, including being tied for the No. 1 hospital in California and tied for No. 1 in the Pacific U.S. region. CHLA is also one of the very few hospitals to have been continuously designated a Magnet hospital since 2008.

The reach of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles is vast and its impact on children’s health spans more than a century. Founded in 1901, CHLA has the highest number of pediatric discharges in the state of California. The hospital and six regional specialty care centers are vital resources for children throughout the nation’s most populous county; CHLA is also a regional referral center and a care destination for children from all 50 states and more than 90 countries. CHLA’s expertise spans the entire pediatric care continuum, from everyday preventive medicine to the most complex surgical interventions such as double organ transplants, treating every child as an individual while demonstrating a commitment to contributing to overall healthier communities. The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Care Network unifies well over 250 pediatricians in the community around a commitment to quality care delivery, advancing care in the community from well-baby visits to mental health screenings.

With more than 350 specialty programs and services, CHLA has nearly 7,500 team members and 1,000 medical staff members. Through more than 725,000 ambulatory visits and more than 18,000 inpatient discharges annually, CHLA cares for a broad and clinically complex population. CHLA consistently achieves impressive patient and family experience scores, far outperforming pediatric benchmarks.

Discovery and Innovation

The brightest minds in pediatric medicine can be found at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. For generations, CHLA clinicians and researchers have made significant scientific contributions to preventing, detecting and treating children’s health issues. Physicians translate new discoveries, treatments and cures proven through the work of scientists in The Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles—among the top 10 children’s hospitals for National Institutes of Health funding—to bring answers to families faster. The Saban Research Institute is home to hundreds of sponsored clinical trials, bringing discoveries from the lab to patients’ bedsides, while researchers also learn from patients themselves about which therapies are most promising. And the hospital’s diverse patient population means CHLA’s research yields better results at a faster pace, for the benefit of children everywhere.

A Leader in Training and Education
As a training ground for physicians, nurses and numerous other disciplines, CHLA has also developed thousands of leading pediatric experts—locally, nationally and internationally. The hospital is home to one of the largest training programs for pediatricians in the United States. CHLA focuses on preparing the next generation of health professionals through a wide variety of programs. The hospital currently mentors 142 clinical fellows and 111 pediatric residents in 25 ACGME accredited programs. Through 45 fellowship training programs, aspiring subspecialists are offered an exciting range of professional development opportunities, including research exposure, scholarship skills training, state-of-the-art clinical facilities and unsurpassed exposure to a large, diverse patient population.

Commitment to Community
CHLA demonstrates its commitment to fulfilling its mission, to creating hope and building healthier futures, at every level of the organization. CHLA serves all children regardless of financial status or payor class. As the largest provider of care in California for children insured by Medi-Cal who require complex care, CHLA is the essential safety net provider for more than half of medically complex children receiving care in Los Angeles County.

CHLA team members are a special type of health professional. Bringing science-driven care to the bedside and serving historically underserved populations, CHLA is essential for the health of California’s children. The hospital provides world-class treatment and ensures all children are able to receive the care they need. CHLA believes that nothing should get in the way of a child’s well-being. The hospital aims to improve the health of the most vulnerable children because healthier families are the bedrock of strong communities—and because every child deserves a chance at a healthier future.

Department of Radiology and Imaging

The Department of Radiology and Imaging is one of five academic and clinical departments (with the others being Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine, Pediatrics, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Surgery) overseeing the delivery of pediatric care, pursuing research and training health professionals of the future at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The Department’s history is one of innovation and contributions to the field of Radiology and strong collaboration with all the other divisions within CHLA.

The department consists of nearly 186 team members and rotating trainees, broken down into the following categories:

• 15 Attending Radiologists
• 1-4 Fellows (dependent on academic year)
• 65 Rotating Pediatric Residents (in FY 25)
• 30 Moonlighting Residents (evening/weekend/overnight)
• 6 rotating IR fellows and 6 rotating neuro fellows
• An Executive Director of Radiology
• Dyad leadership partner
• Imaging technologists, nurses, aides, and support staff

Radiology services are comprised of the following imaging modalities:

• Computed Tomography
• Diagnostic Radiology
• Interventional Radiology
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Nuclear Medicine
• Ultrasound
• PET/CT

The department performs more than 158,000 total procedures per year.

• 21,000 MRI cases performed across 7 MRIs (~30% under general anesthesia)
• 95,000 General Radiology studies
• 12,000 CT scans
• 1,000 Nuclear Medicine scans (plus 1500 PETS)
• 23,500 Ultrasounds
• 4400 Intervention Radiology procedures

Through the Human Imaging Core, the Radiology division participates in 85 active projects performing research scans in all modalities.

CHLA is also home to a Small Animal Imaging Core which houses an 11.7T small animal MRI, micro CT, and luminescent imaging.

The Department has contributed significantly to radiology literature over the past several decades, furthering the understanding and growth of this specialty. Radiology currently has 4 PhD faculty and a dedicated PhD MRI physicist. Radiology Department researchers are actively involved in leading-edge radiology research with special strengths in the following lines of research:

• The CHLA Computational Imaging of Brain Organization Research Group (CIBORG) specializes in quantitative and computational methods to study brain anatomy and function through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
• HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD), a 25-site study on brain development.
• The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States.
• Center for New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT) Consortium and the Children’s Oncology Group (COG).

For more information, please visit: https://www.chla.org/radiology-and-imaging.

Position Description

We are seeking an experienced and dynamic individual to join our team as the CHLA Department Head and Radiologist-in-Chief and the Vice Chair, Pediatric Radiology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. As a pivotal enterprise leader, this individual will be responsible for providing oversight for faculty activities and the delivery of medical care in each of the critical environments covered.

The position also includes supporting the academic success and professional development of our faculty, fellows and team members.

Candidate Attributes

The ideal candidate will be a pediatric radiologist who is also board-certified and who has a strong orientation toward department operations, with an accomplished clinical research record and prior successes in developing and mentoring faculty members.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate an ability to inspire and motivate through vision and purpose, have a demonstrated track record of bringing teams together, have academic credentials of merit, have effectively managed people around short and long-term objectives, have a deep understanding of the business of academic medicine, have supported efforts for resource stewardship, and be a clear and professional communicator. The ability to build high-performing teams, engage in strategic thinking and decision-making are all necessary skills.

Responsibilities
The candidate will balance decision-making across the wide variety of care settings and environments available at CHLA with oversight of the division chiefs and vice chairs as well as supervision of non-physician administrative team members. The individual will champion growth within the department, engage in program development activities, develop and champion innovative compensation models for approval and implementation and provide leadership and mentorship with regard to education and research activities.

Specific leadership responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Providing leadership and input at the Enterprise, Department and Hospital level along with leadership and strategic direction to division chiefs and department vice chairs.
• Collaborating with an interdisciplinary team to deliver high-quality clinical services to patients, their families, and medical staff.
• Creating a positive work environment.
• Providing guidance and mentorship for physicians and trainees to support a culture of professionalism and effective communication within the division and department.
• Building a strong partnership with other division leaders, both internal and external to the Department at CHLA, to collaborate with physician leaders on clinical activities.
• Demonstrating expertise in monitoring and understanding the local and national forces shaping healthcare in the U.S. and ideating regarding how these forces may influence the future of the discipline.
• Identifying and championing opportunities for growth of the department’s and division’s clinical, research, and educational programs.
• Providing guidance and participating in implementation of growth plans, including monitoring progress and performance in achieving objectives. 
• Actively participating in departmental and division fundraising activities and representing the division at events. Addressing clinical, service, process and behavioral complaints directly with other department chairs and affected chiefs and their faculty. Ensuring divisional faculty compliance with clinical practice billing and documentation rules and regulations.
• Overseeing division budget in collaboration with academic leaders as well as administrative leaders from the hospital and the CHLA Medical Group; developing and participating in annual departmental budgeting efforts, and providing guidance of the department’s management team, medical group and hospital.
• Effectively operationalizing financial strategic plan goals and priorities of the department.
• Coordinating educational activities for radiology (in collaboration with education/fellowship services of the department).
• Developing and conducting cooperative research programs for the department.
• Leading and participating in quality assurance and performance improvement activities for the division in partnership with our QA/QI teams.
• Delivering thoughtful, accurate and timely academic and performance evaluations for division faculty in accordance with required procedures and timelines.
• Growing the faculty pipeline with a focus on both existing talent and new recruits.
• Approving faculty appointment, reappointment and academic promotions for faculty members practicing at CHLA.
• Assisting (as appropriate) with recruitment of key faculty for other departments, hospital, and medical group staff.
• Ensuring the provision of clinical care that meets the needs of the Departments with clinical quality and productivity levels that meet or exceed accepted standards.
• Partnering successfully with leadership across the CHLA enterprise to maximize the impact of the hospital’s clinical care delivery and operations.

Requirements:

Board certification

Primary board certification in Radiology.

Experience

Minimum of 5 years of division leadership experience, preferably at a large, complex academic children’s hospital or academic medical center, ideally in a diverse, urban and highly regulated market with a high ratio of Medicaid-insured patient population.

Successful track record leading cost management initiatives and experience with budget management preferred.

Must have demonstrated a commitment to professional development along with mentoring and coaching of faculty and team members.

Must have demonstrated experience leading faculty in professional development.

Academic achievement of an associate professor status or higher preferred.

Licensure
Must be licensed (or be eligible for medical licensure) in the State of California.

COMPENSATION CONSIDERATIONS

CHLA/KSOM values the contribution each Team Member brings to the organization. Final determination of a successful candidate’s starting pay will vary based on several factors, including, but not limited to education and experience within the job or the industry. Compensation information listed for this position is generally for candidates that meet the specified qualifications and requirements listed on the specific job description. Additional pay may be determined for those candidates that exceed these specified qualifications and requirements. CHLA/KSOM provides a competitive compensation package that recognizes an individual’s unique experience, credentials, and education alongside a robust benefits program.

SALARY RANGE:  $650,000 - $775,000

If interested, please apply using the link above. For further inquiries, please contact:

Deborah Braidic

Chief of Staff, Office of the Chief Executive Officer

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

Phone 323-361-1951 | dbraidic@chla.usc.edu