VP&S Department of Radiology

Dear Colleagues: 

After 13 years as chair of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Department of Radiology and Radiologist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Lawrence Schwartz, MD, will be leaving in January to chair Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Department of Radiology. Dr. Schwartz will be returning to the institution where he served with great distinction for many years before coming to Columbia, and we wish him all the best. Taking over from Dr. Schwartz as interim chair of radiology will be Diego Jaramillo, MD, MPH, currently one of the department’s vice chairs. Dr. Jaramillo is a pediatric radiologist and director of MRI services at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital. 

We are grateful to Dr. Schwartz for his many significant contributions to the Department of Radiology and to our community. He led the recruitment of more than 80 clinical and research faculty across all ten radiology subspecialties; assembled an exceptional leadership team including division chiefs and site directors; created an Emergency Radiology Division offering 24/7 coverage; and brought comprehensive radiology services to NewYork-Presbyterian locations in Westchester and the Hudson Valley. 

Together with his team, Dr. Schwartz established the first Interventional Radiology/Diagnostic Radiology residency program in New York and expanded the Diagnostic Radiology Residency at VP&S. The advances in research during his time as chair are reflected in the department’s steady rise to being ranked eighth, nationally, in NIH funding. He also ensured the acquisition of physical resources essential to the Radiology Department’s leadership in the field, including creation of a state-of-the-art MRI research center; revitalization of the PET center; and development of a computational and artificial intelligence imaging lab useful in multiple therapeutic domains. 

By advancing the availability of timely radiology services throughout NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Dr. Schwartz not only elevated the clinical care we provide, he also transformed the financial standing of the department. 

Best known for groundbreaking research on the use of CT and MRI in cancer imaging, Dr. Schwartz has focused on the development of novel imaging biomarkers in oncology, utilizing quantitative imaging and artificial intelligence both for clinical care and drug discovery. He is a founder of the Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers Alliance of the Radiologic Society of North America and the Quantitative Imaging Network of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Schwartz has multiple NCI grants focusing on imaging biomarker development and validation. He leads multi-institutional projects in imaging biomarker development through open data sharing in academic-industrial-government partnerships sponsored by the Foundation of the NIH as well as Project DataSphere. These initiatives have been translated for use in drug discovery and patient care through the National Cancer Trials Network, where Dr. Schwartz is chair of the Imaging Committees of Alliance and SWOG. 

Please join us in thanking Dr. Schwartz for his lasting contributions to the Department of Radiology, the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, NewYork-Presbyterian, and the many students he has taught and patients he has cared for. Please also join us in welcoming Dr. Jaramillo as interim chair. We want to thank Dr. Jaramillo for assuming this responsibility and to wish him well in his new role. 

Sincerely, 

Katrina Armstrong, MD 
Dean of the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons 
Executive Vice President for Health and Biomedical Sciences, Columbia University 

Steven J. Corwin, MD 
President and Chief Executive Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian