On July 2, Richard L. Baron, M.D., was announced as the new chairman of radiology at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Baron’s appointment by James Madara, the new dean of the Division of the Biological Sciences and the Pritzker School of Medicine and Vice President for Medical Affairs, takes effect in the fall.

“Richard is well respected as a leader in the study of liver disease and has shown remarkable administrative talents as head of the Pittsburgh Physicians Practice Plan,” Madara said. “It is an honor, and a good omen, to announce this appointment as one of my first official acts at the University of Chicago.”

Baron, 53, is the founding president and CEO of the University of Pittsburgh Physicians Practice Plan and professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh. His work deals with abdominal imaging and gastrointestinal applications of magnetic resonance and computed tomography scans.

His research on diagnostic imaging of liver disease has garnered several awards, and he served as chairman of the department of radiology at Pittsburgh in 1998 and 1999. Baron has held leadership roles in numerous national radiology societies, most recently acting as president of the Society of Computed Body Tomography/Magnetic Resonance from 1998 to 1999. He has served as an editorial consultant or reviewer for several medical-specialty journals.

Baron received his medical degree from the Washington University School of Medicine in 1976 after graduating from Yale University in 1972. He was a resident in radiology and held a fellowship in abdominal radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University. He became professor of radiology at Pittsburgh in 1990.

His wife, Shirley Baron, Ph.D., will join the University’s department of psychiatry.