Society of Cardiovascular CT announces 2025-2026 president, leadership team

ARLINGTON, VA (July 21, 2025) — The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) is pleased to introduce the 2025 - 2026 leadership team, its Executive Committee and Board members, led by its 20th president Kavitha Chinnaiyan, MD, MSCCT.

Dr. Chinnaiyan is a cardiologist at Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital Heart & Vascular in Michigan. A world leader in cardiac CT, she has authored and co-authored more than a hundred manuscripts and abstracts, and several book chapters.

A founding member of the Society, Dr. Chinnaiyan focuses her research endeavors on the clinical applications of cardiac CT, adoption of novel CT technology, radiation dose reduction and outcomes related to imaging.

She has served as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Heart Association of Southeast Michigan, Co-Chair of the Detroit Go Red for Women, Conference Chair for the Michigan Chapter of the American College of Cardiology and on the Think Tank of the Future of Cardiovascular Imaging initiative of the ACC.

Dr. Chinnaiyan – a former member of the SCCT Membership and Guidelines Committees – credits most of her success to being in the right place at the right time: in cardiology when cardiovascular CT was still up-and-coming, and she was in the early stages of her training. She said that while her initial interest in cardiology was anything to do with intervention or procedures, she changed gears in the middle of her fellowship and switched to advanced imaging.

“It’s a decision I’ve made that I have been thankful for every single day, because it provided so many opportunities for my own growth for research and for leadership opportunities.” 

For example, she explained, as Program Director she led the Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging Consortium (ACIC), a statewide collaborative quality initiative sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan that included 90 institutions in Michigan. The ACIC established the role of registries for real-world practice of cardiac CT, including dose reduction and appropriate use.

She said a big milestone in her career was seeing her work turn into standards of care and leading these initiatives when cardiovascular CT was “so brand new.”

“I’m proud of all these different phases of my career, especially many of the milestones that we achieved, for instance with the Michigan registry or with multicenter trials, and to see them going on to be incorporated into guidelines and into standards of care in cardiology has been very gratifying for me.”

Another rewarding milestone in her career has been growing with the Society over the past 20 years, she explained.

“And then to become involved in SCCT at a very early stage and to come to this phase with the encouragement and with the support of so many others who have come before me – it’s been an incredible journey.”

Dr. Chinnaiyan is only the second female president of the Society, following Leslee Shaw, PhD, MSCCT, (2016 - 2017) someone Dr. Chinnaiyan describes as incomparable.

One lesson she adopted from Dr. Shaw was to lead in her own way and to be a leader as unique as she – a lesson she hopes to impart on younger generations.

“I want this to be a message for women in our field: It’s time to step forward and take charge – you never have to be anyone else; you just have to be you. Ultimately, if you want change, you need to be that change. And if you want things to change in this field then the only way to do that is to be at the table.”

She said the first step to being at the table is to begin the process of engagement and stay with it, “no matter what.”

Looking to the future

During her year as president, she said her top priority will be to raise awareness about the environmental impact of cardiac imaging and work with the community to reduce overutilization.

“We are at the crossroads of a huge explosion in cardiac CT, in its use and applications,” Dr. Chinnaiyan said. “It’s already included in guidelines and as the first line of diagnosis in many situations.”

“However with great power comes great responsibility, because I don’t think there is a wide enough and deep enough understanding of the impact of the greenhouse effects created by the use of imaging, such as CT, MRI, SPECT imaging and cardiac catheterization.”

This greenhouse effect, she explained  — created by both the utilization of imaging as well as the storing of large amounts of data in the age of artificial intelligence use and post-processing of its data — is “not negligible, but actually quite significant” and needs to be investigated further.

“I remember when we first began with CT, the emphasis was really on appropriate use, and at that time the main concern was radiation dose,” she said. “We did an incredible job of reducing radiation dose and addressing the appropriate use criteria in significant ways over the past 20 years.”

“But now with the exposure of this technology and a push towards using it – many times appropriately – we may have come back to that original question of appropriate use and address the implications for the next generation, who have to deal with the consequences of an overuse of imaging modalities.”

Her second priority is to shed light on the inequity of care in cardiac CT use, increasing utilization where it is needed and decreasing utilization where it is overused, she said. She stressed the importance of understanding access issues as well as working together to understand what the Society can do to address those issues.

Dr. Chinnaiyan succeeds Immediate Past President Maros Ferencik, MD, PhD, MCR, MSCCT. Dr. Ferencik is professor of Medicine and Radiology, section head of Cardiovascular Imaging, at Oregon Health & Sciences University.

SCCT thanks Dr. Ferencik, as well as the 2024 - 2025 leadership team for their dedication and commitment. Special thanks go to the members rolling off the Board, including Dr. Suhny Abbara, former president and the 2024 SCCT Gold Medal Award recipient, who served on the Board for the past 17 years:

• Suhny Abbara, MD, MSCCT
• Anjali Chelliah, MD, FSCCT
• Jill Jacob, MD, FSCCT
• Barbara Srichai-Parsia, MD, FSCCT

SCCT is pleased to introduce the 2025 - 2026 SCCT Executive Committee:

• President: Kavitha Chinnaiyan, MD, MSCCT
• President-Elect: Ronen Rubinshtein, MD, MSCCT
• Immediate Past President: Maros Ferencik, MD, PhD, MSCCT
• Vice President: Kelley Branch, MD, MSc, FSCCT
• Treasurer: Cristina Fuss, MD, PhD, FSCCT
• Secretary: Ahmad Slim, MD, FSCCT
• Member at Large: Lynne Koweek, MD, FSCCT

SCCT 2025 - 2026 Board Members:

• Juan Batlle, MD, MBA, FSCCT
• Marcus Chen, MD
• Tim Fairbairn, MBChB, PhD, FRCP
• Sandeep Hedgire, MD, FSCCT
• Omar Khalique, MD, FSCCT
• Pal Maurovich-Horvat, MD, PhD, MPH, FSCCT
• Kanae Mukai, MD
• Ming-Yen Ng, MBBS, FSCCT
• Julie O'Brien, MD, FSCCT
• Nikkole Weber, R.T. (R)(M)(CT)(ARRT) CSCCT
• Jonathan Weir-McCall, MBChB, PhD, FSCCT
• Michelle Williams, MBChB, PhD, FSCCT
• Pamela Woodard, MD, MSCCT

###

About the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography

Founded in 2005, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) is the international professional society devoted to improving health outcomes through effective use of cardiovascular computed tomography (CCT). SCCT is a community of physicians, scientists and technologists from over 85 countries advocating for access, research, education and clinical excellence in the use of CCT. For more information, please visit www.SCCT.org.

###