Jean Tkach, PhD

Medical Physicist, Department of Radiology and Medical Imaging
Professor, UC Department of Radiology

jean.tkach@cchmc.org

About

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).

Interests

Neonatal MR acquisition technique development, optimization and application

Research Areas

Imaging, Fibrosis

Publications

Prospective study of quantitative liver MRI in cystic fibrosis: feasibility and comparison to PUSH cohort ultrasound. Towbin, AJ; Ye, W; Huang, S; Karmazyn, BW; Molleston, JP; Masand, P; Leung, DH; Chang, S; Narkewicz, MR; Alazraki, AL; et al. Pediatric Radiology: roentgenology, nuclear medicine, ultrasonics, CT, MRI. 2023; 53:2210-2220.

Respiratory-Triggered Flow-Independent Noncontrast Non-ECG-Gated MRV (REACT) Versus CE-MRV for Central Venous Evaluation in Children and Young Adults: A Six-Reader Study. Betz, LH; Dillman, JR; Towbin, AJ; Anton, CG; Chavhan, GB; Crotty, EJ; Morin, CE; Pace, E; Sreedher, G; Zhang, B; et al. American Journal of Roentgenology. 2023; 221:240-248.

MRI safety screening of children with implants: updates and challenges. Betz, LH; Dillman, JR; Jones, BV; Tkach, JA. Pediatric Radiology: roentgenology, nuclear medicine, ultrasonics, CT, MRI. 2023; 53:1454-1468.

Liver T1 Relaxation Quantification Using a 3-Dimensional Interleaved Look-Locker Acquisition With T2 Preparation Pulse Sequence (3D-QALAS): Comparison With Conventional 2-Dimensional MOLLI. Gandhi, DB; Pednekar, A; Wang, H; Tkach, JA; Dudley, JA; Manhard, MK; Trout, AT; Dillman, JR. Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography: a radiological journal dedicated to the basic and clinical aspects of reconstructive tomography. 2023; 47:350-354.

The Simplified MR Index of Activity Score in Pediatric Small-Bowel Crohn Disease: An Interreader Agreement and Responsiveness Study. Dillman, JR; Ata, NA; Towbin, AJ; Anton, CG; Smith, EA; Zhang, B; Imbus, R; Tkach, JA; Denson, LA. American Journal of Roentgenology. 2023; 220:126-133.

Diffuse excessive high signal intensity in the preterm brain on advanced MRI represents widespread neuropathology. Kline, JE; Dudley, J; Illapani, VS P; Li, H; Kline-Fath, B; Tkach, J; He, L; Yuan, W; Parikh, NA. Neuroimage. 2022; 264:119727.

Prospective characterization of incident hepatic steatosis in pediatric and adolescent patients after total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation. Vieira Alves, VP; Qiu, L; Abu-El-Haija, M; Tellez, S; Vitale, DS; Lin, TK; Tkach, JA; Nathan, JD; Dillman, JR; Trout, AT. Pancreatology : official journal of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP) ... [et al.]. 2022; 22:1175-1180.

Quantitative cardiopulmonary magnetic resonance imaging in neonatal congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Tkach, JA; Higano, NS; Taylor, MD; Moore, RA; Hossain, M; Huang, G; Spielberg, DR; Fain, SB; Kingma, PS; Woods, JC. Pediatric Radiology: roentgenology, nuclear medicine, ultrasonics, CT, MRI. 2022; 52:2306-2318.

Quantification of Hepatic Steatosis by Ultrasound: Prospective Comparison With MRI Proton Density Fat Fraction as Reference Standard. Dillman, JR; Thapaliya, S; Tkach, JA; Trout, AT. American Journal of Roentgenology. 2022; 219:784-791.