Woodard’s early work involved novel approaches to imaging blood clots in the lungs. In 1995, as a resident at Duke University, she published one of the early papers showing that such clots could be detected by multidetector spiral CT scan, then a developing technology. This type of CT scan uses an array of detectors to acquire multiple images simultaneously. Later, as an assistant professor at Washington University, she was a principal investigator on a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that resulted in a landmark paper in The New England Journal of Medicine and established multidetector CT as the standard of care for diagnosing blood clots in the lungs.

The Department of Radiology is a world leader in radiological innovations that advance the science of imaging to improve patient care and further biomedical research. It has a long history of national leadership in the practice and science of radiology, and in educating the next generation of radiologists and radiology researchers.


“I am honored to serve and lead Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in this important role,” Woodard said. “The Department of Radiology has a long tradition of excellence and innovation in clinical radiology, radiology education, and imaging research. I am delighted to lead our world-class faculty and trainees in radiology into the next decade in collaboration with our partners at BJC HealthCare and across the Medical Campus.”

Woodard earned her bachelor’s and medical degrees at Duke. She completed her internship in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her residency in radiology at Duke before coming to Washington University for a clinical fellowship in cardiothoracic radiology. She joined the School of Medicine faculty in 1997.

She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the American College of Radiology and the American Heart Association. She serves on the Board of Chancellors for the American College of Radiology, the Executive Committee of the Board of the Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research, and the Board of the Society for Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Woodard will succeed Richard L. Wahl, MD, who has led the department for nine years. Wahl will continue to lead a research laboratory as a professor in the department.

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