Umar Mahmood, MD, PhD, Named Stanford’s Chair of Radiology  

RSNA president appointed leadership role

Umar Mahmood, MD, PhD, RSNA president, has been appointed as the chair of the Department of Radiology at Stanford University. Dr. Mahmood will assume this role on Feb. 1, 2026. 

“I am incredibly honored and excited to be joining the Department of Radiology at Stanford Medicine,” Dr. Mahmood said. “As health care enters a period of rapid change, the department is uniquely positioned to help shape the future of radiology through its intellectual depth, pioneering spirit and unwavering commitment to excellence across all mission areas. Most importantly, it will continue to lead in improving the lives of patients, at Stanford and around the world, because of the remarkable people in the department working together.”  

Dr. Mahmood is currently chief of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, director of the Center for Precision Imaging, associate chair for imaging sciences in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston.  

During his more than 25 years at MGH, he has conducted PET, optical and MR imaging research, and has focused on translational efforts to better understand drivers of cancer, including the tumor microenvironment, cancer signaling pathways, changes in cancer metabolism and the interaction of the immune system with tumors.