ASNR Member Spotlight: Dr. Priya Rajagopalan

Dr. Priya Rajagopalan is an Assistant Professor of Radiology, Division of Neuroradiology, in the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. She is the 2023 recipient of the Foundation of the ASNR Boerger Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurocognitive Disorders and currently serves as the ASNR X (Twitter) Editor.

Below, Dr. Rajagopalan shares her journey on how she became interested in neuroradiology and how the ASNR has benefited her throughout her career:

During my neuroanatomy classes in medical school, I became fascinated by the workings of brain and realized Neuro was my calling. Through my Master’s degree in epidemiology from UC Berkeley and after, I was introduced to the world of neuroimaging research by my mentor, Dr. Paul Thompson. To establish myself as a physician scientist, I wanted to pursue clinical residency and between Neurology and Neuroradiology, the latter sounded like a better fit for me. I was fortunate to be accepted into the Radiology Residency program at Indiana University where I could continue to engage in research under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Saykin.

I followed that with a Neuroradiology fellowship from the University of California, San Francisco and now I work as a Neuroradiologist at the University of Southern California (USC). I am also the Medical Director of the Center for Image Acquisition at USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute and continue to do some grant funded research with Drs. Paul Thompson and Arthur Toga.

I am very thankful to the Foundation of the ASNR Boerger Research Fund for supporting my imaging genetics research in Alzheimer’s disease. I have been a member of the American Society of Neuroradiology since my trainee days and have not only benefited from numerous educational opportunities but have also been able to forge beautiful friendships with colleagues from across the world. Thank you ASNR for supporting and promoting us junior faculty!