Sanjaya Viswamitra, MBBS, DABR, DABNM, professor and chief of Emergency Radiology in the Department of Radiology in the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine, has been named chair of the department, effective April 1. Viswamitra has served as interim chair since last August.
“Dr. Viswamitra has done a great job leading our Radiology programs for the past eight months, following more than 23 years of previous service in the department,” Steven Webber, MBChB, executive vice chancellor and dean, said in an announcement to faculty. “He is widely recognized for his expertise in cardiac imaging and his longtime work in nuclear medicine. He also has been instrumental in building our clinical and educational endeavors in emergency radiology.”
Viswamitra received his medical degree at Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research in India. He completed his fellowship in nuclear medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and continued his training with a residency in diagnostic radiology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center and Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York, followed by a fellowship in body imaging at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
Viswamitra joined the UAMS faculty as an assistant professor in the Nuclear Medicine and Body Imaging divisions in January 2001. He was promoted to associate professor in 2012 and to professor in 2020. Early leadership roles included division chief for Body MRI and MSK MRI in 2002-2007. He was named inaugural chief of the Division of Emergency Radiology in 2023.
Viswamitra is active nationally and internationally in professional organizations including the Radiological Society of North America and the American Roentgen Ray Society, which have recognized him for his excellence and extensive service as a reviewer for the journals Radiology and American Journal of Roentgenology, respectively. He served as secretary and subsequently as president of the Indian Association of Cardiac Imaging, and he continues to serve as executive chairman of the organization. Viswamitra also has served as an executive committee member of the Asian Society of Cardiac Imaging. He has authored more than 60 articles, book chapters and other publications.