A photo of Jean Tkach.

Medical Physicist, Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging

Associate Professor, UC Department of Radiology

513-636-7166

Biography & Affiliation

Biography

Jean Tkach, PhD, received her undergraduate and graduate training in biomedical engineering. She is an MRI physicist by training who has been involved in MRI research since 1985.

Dr. Tkach joined the Cincinnati Children's faculty in the Fall of 2010. Throughout her career, the majority of her effort has been dedicated to the development, implementation, optimization and application of novel MRI acquisition techniques to address clinical as well as more fundamental research questions. The majority of these efforts have been dedicated toward neuroimaging. However, she has also been actively involved in research to advance the fields of cardiac, body and musculoskeletal MR imaging. Although most of Dr. Tkach's work has been directed toward human imaging, she also has been actively involved in multiple animal MR imaging studies.

Dr. Tkach’s research currently focuses on the development and implementation of state of the art MRI acquisition techniques optimized for (and to best address the most relevant clinical needs of) the neonate that exploit new technology being developed for this purpose. Most recently, Dr. Tkach received the Caffey Award for the Best Basic Science Research Paper at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the International Society for Pediatric Radiology.

Dr. Tkach is also is a consultant on the Circulatory System Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Clinical Interests

Neonatal MR acquisition technique development, optimization and application

Academic Affiliation

Associate Professor, UC Department of Radiology

Research Divisions

Imaging, Fibrosis

Education

BSE: Biomedical Engineering, Duke University, 1982.

MS: Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 1985.

PhD: Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, 1988.

Publications

Relationship between magnetic resonance imaging spleen T1 relaxation and other radiologic and clinical biomarkers of liver fibrosis in children and young adults with autoimmune liver disease. Dillman, JR; Tkach, JA; Gandhi, D; Singh, R; Miethke, AG; Jayaswal, A; Trout, AT. Abdominal Radiology. 2020; 45:3709-3715.

Comparison of liver T1 relaxation times without and with iron correction in pediatric autoimmune liver disease. Dillman, JR; Serai, SD; Miethke, AG; Singh, R; Tkach, JA; Trout, AT. Pediatric Radiology: roentgenology, nuclear medicine, ultrasonics, CT, MRI. 2020; 50:935-942.

Feeding Tolerance, Intestinal Motility, and Superior Mesenteric Artery Blood Flow in Infants with Gastroschisis. Williams, SL; Tkach, JA; Rattan, MS; South, AP; Wessel, J; Kingma, PS. Neonatology: foetal and neonatal research. 2020; 117:95-101.

Spiral T1 spin-echo for routine postcontrast brain MRI exams: A multicenter multireader clinical evaluation. Ooi, MB; Li, Z; Robison, RK; Wang, D; III, AA G; Zwart, NR; Bakhru, A; Nagaraj, S; Mathews, T; Hey, S; et al. American Journal of Neuroradiology. 2020; 41:238-245.

Neonatal Functional and Structural Connectivity Are Associated with Cerebral Palsy at Two Years of Age. Merhar, SL; Gozdas, E; Tkach, JA; Parikh, NA; Kline-Fath, BM; He, L; Yuan, W; Altaye, M; Leach, JL; Holland, SK. American Journal of Perinatology: neonatal and maternal-fetal medicine. 2020; 37:137-145.

Differentiating pediatric autoimmune liver diseases by quantitative magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography. Gilligan, LA; Trout, AT; Lam, S; Singh, R; Tkach, JA; Serai, SD; Miethke, AG; Dillman, JR. Abdominal Radiology. 2020; 45:168-176.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging evaluation of neonatal bronchopulmonary dysplasia-associated pulmonary hypertension. Critser, PJ; Higano, NS; Tkach, JA; Olson, ES; Spielberg, DR; Kingma, PS; Fleck, RJ; Lang, SM; Moore, RA; Taylor, MD; et al. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. 2020; 201:73-82.

White matter injury and structural anomalies in infants with prenatal opioid exposure. Merhar, SL; Parikh, NA; Braimah, A; Poindexter, BB; Tkach, J; Kline-Fath, B. American Journal of Neuroradiology. 2019; 40:2161-2165.

Neonatal lung growth in congenital diaphragmatic hernia: evaluation of lung density and mass by pulmonary MRI. Adaikalam, SA; Higano, NS; Tkach, JA; Lim, FY; Haberman, B; Woods, JC; Kingma, PS. Pediatric Research. 2019; 86:635-640.

Respiratory-triggered spin-echo echo-planar imaging-based mr elastography for evaluating liver stiffness. Wang, H; Tkach, JA; Trout, AT; Dumoulin, CL; Dillman, JR. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2019; 50:391-396.