Harold I. Litt, MD, PhD, Named Editor of ‘Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging’

The RSNA Board of Directors announced today that Harold I. Litt, MD, PhD, has been named editor of Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging. Dr. Litt has been serving as interim editor of the journal since 2025.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Harold Litt as editor of Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging,” said Tina Young Poussaint, MD, RSNA Board liaison for publications. “A renowned cardiothoracic specialist, Dr. Litt has been with the journal from the very beginning. His proven editorial leadership and dedication as deputy and interim editor—coupled with deep experience guiding high-impact consensus work and a broad multidisciplinary research portfolio—uniquely position him to lead the journal with integrity, vision and relevance for the global imaging community.”

As Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging editor, Dr. Litt will be responsible for setting high standards of integrity for the journal, encouraging submissions of scientific manuscripts, developing guidelines and mechanisms for peer review of submitted manuscripts, releasing accepted manuscripts on a timely basis for publication and formulating and interpreting editorial philosophy and policies.

“It is an honor to be selected as editor for Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging, and I am grateful to RSNA for the opportunity to lead this important journal into the future. I would also like to thank founding editor (and now Radiology editor-in-chief) Dr. Suhny Abbara for his leadership and bringing Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging to its current level of excellence,” Dr. Litt said. “As editor, I will continue to advocate for high-impact research and publication of manuscripts designed to help radiologists understand and implement the latest research and guidelines. I would also like to focus on more rapid turnaround and dissemination of science in emerging areas and further emphasize the concept of improving health and patient outcomes, both in our scientific and educational content. As our readership and authorship become more international, I hope to increase international engagement for the journal, expanding its reach and relevance.”

Launched in 2019, Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging emphasizes new research and technical developments in imaging that drive cardiothoracic medicine and serves as an invaluable resource for health care professionals, providing them with the latest advances, clinical guidelines and evidence-based insights necessary for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment planning.

The peer-reviewed bi-monthly journal focuses on advances in cardiac, vascular and thoracic medical imaging, including research on CT, MRI, AI, congenital heart disease and pulmonary conditions, serving as a key platform for disseminating subspecialty content and innovation in the field. Dr. Litt served as deputy editor since the journal’s inception, prior to being named interim editor in 2025.

Dr. Litt is professor of radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) in Philadelphia, and chief of cardiac imaging at the Imaging Institute, Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, where he also serves as director of research for the Diagnostics Institute. 

The focus of Dr. Litt’s research has been cardiothoracic imaging, including instrumentation physics and physiologic modeling with broader applications, as well as a multicenter trial on the application of coronary CT in the emergency department, the results of which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Litt founded the CT core imaging facility at the Penn and directed it for nearly 20 years. He is a co-principal investigator or co-investigator on four National Institutes of Health (NIH) R01 grants. Recent research activities have included 3D printing and big data analysis with AI based data mining for image phenotyping. 

Dr. Litt received both his medical degree and his doctorate from the State University of New York, Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in 1996. That same year, he was a guest researcher in the Unit on Brain Imaging and Computing at the Laboratory for Neurosciences, National Institute on Aging, NIH.

In 1997, Dr. Litt completed an internship at Mount Auburn Hospital-Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, MA, followed by a residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn School of Medicine. 

After completing a fellowship in cardiothoracic radiology at the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Litt joined the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn School of Medicine, where he became assistant professor of radiology (2002-2011), associate professor of radiology (2011-2021) and professor of radiology (2021-present). 

From 2003 to 2025, Dr. Litt was chief of the cardiovascular imaging section in the Department of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, where he was also director of the Center for Advanced Computed Tomography Imaging Sciences and cardiac imaging fellowship director from 2005 to 2025, and director of Continuing Medical Education from 2012 to 2020.

He founded Penn’s program for performing MRI in patients with implanted cardiac devices in 2004 and has contributed to multiple guidelines on this topic. From 2017 to 2025, he was chief of the Cardiothoracic Imaging Division in the Department of Radiology. After relocating to Florida in 2025, he joined the Cleveland Clinic Foundation as a radiologist.

Dr. Litt served as associate editor for Academic Radiology and a reviewer for more than 20 journals, including Radiology, New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, Journal of Thoracic Imaging, Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Journal of the American College of Cardiology. He was American Journal of Roentgenology assistant editor-at-large for cardiovascular imaging.

Dr. Litt has authored or co-authored nearly 200 peer-reviewed articles, editorials, reviews and book chapters and contributed to more than 150 peer-reviewed research articles.

Among Dr. Litt’s many awards and honors are the RSNA Resident Research Trainee Prize (1998), Journal of Thoracic Imaging Editors’ Recognition Award for Distinction in Reviewing (2009 and 2011), Academic Radiology Editors’ Recognition Award for Excellence as a Reviewer (2016), American Journal of Roentgenology Silver Distinguished Reviewer Achievement Award (2018) and Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Gold Star Reviewer Award (2020). International outreach has been an important part of Dr. Litt’s career. He has organized educational activities on five continents and was named an Honorary Member of the Radiological Society of South Africa in 2017.

Dr. Litt has a long history of service to RSNA. He has been an invited speaker and moderator at the RSNA annual meeting many times over the past two decades, where he has also mentored numerous student presentations.

He has been an active participant in the North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging cardiac CT course over the years and served as an abstract reviewer. Dr. Litt was senior author of the widely cited “RSNA Consensus Statement on Reporting Chest CT Findings Related to COVID-19.”

Dr. Litt also holds memberships in a number of other professional societies, including the American Heart Association, Society of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance, American Roentgen Ray Society, the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography, American College of Radiology, North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging, the American College of Radiology Imaging Network and the Pennsylvania Radiological Society. He has served on numerous committees for multiple societies over the years. 

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