We are pleased to announce that following a national search, David M. Naeger, MD, FACR, FAAR, has been named Chair of the Department of Radiology. He will begin work in August 2024, filling the role previously held by Jocelyn Chertoff prior to her retirement.
Dr. Naeger is currently the Director of Radiology at Denver Health, Denver’s primary safety net healthcare system and premiere Level I trauma center, a position he has held since 2019. In this role, he oversees a team of 160 individuals who contribute to the department’s clinical, research and educational programs. He also serves as Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Radiology at Denver Health’s academic affiliate, the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
The Denver Health Radiology Department experienced significant growth during Dr. Naeger’s tenure with some radiology service lines experiencing volume increases of 40-90%. Denver Health currently performs nearly 300,000 imaging examinations per year at inpatient and multiple outpatient sites. Dr. Naeger proposed and oversaw a rebuilding of the Denver Health Interventional Radiology program including a complete renovation of Interventional Radiology facilities and the addition of a combined CT/angio suite, the first in the state of Colorado. He led the team that opened an advanced outpatient imaging facility which now completes more than 100,000 imaging exams a year.
Prior to joining Denver Health, Dr. Naeger held a number of key leadership positions in medical education at the University of California, San Francisco from 2011 to 2019, where he was an Associate Professor of Radiology. Those roles included Associate Chair for Education, Co-Director of the Henry I. Goldberg Center for Advanced Imaging Education, and Co-Director of the Innovations Funding Program for Medical Education . Dr. Naeger was awarded the prestigious UCSF Academic Senate Distinction in Teaching Award.
David received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine after which he completed a residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of California, San Francisco where he served as Chief Resident. He completed a NIH/NIBIB T32 research fellowship. This was followed by two additional clinical fellowships in Cardiac and Pulmonary Imaging and Nuclear Medicine.
We look forward to welcoming David to Dartmouth Health and Geisel. We also want to thank David Pastel for his interim leadership of the department during this time of transition.
Duane Compton, PhD, Dean, Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine
Edward J. Merrens, MD, Chief Clinical Officer, Dartmouth Health
