Christopher Hess, MD, PhD, is the Alexander R. Margulis Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF.

Dr. Hess completed his PhD in Electrical Engineering and his MD at the University of Illinois in 1998 and 2002, respectively. He was in the first class of NIH T32 radiology research program at UCSF in 2005-2006. He served as chief resident in Radiology from 2006-2007 and was the recipient of the RSNA's Roentgen Award in 2006 and the department's Elmer Ng Award for outstanding resident in 2007. After completing residency in 2007, he remained at UCSF and went on to complete his fellowship training in Neuroradiology the following year. He joined the UCSF faculty in the same year. After serving as Chief of Neuroradiology at the San Francisco VA, Fellowship Director for Neuroradiology at UCSF, and Chief of Neuroradiology at UCSF, he become the Chair of the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging in 2018.

Dr. Hess’s research interests lie in the translational application of MR imaging techniques to vascular disease, brain development and degeneration, and epilepsy, especially using diffusion imaging and ultra-high-field MRI. He is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and serves on the editorial board of Radiology and the American Journal of Neuroradiology.

Expertise: Neuroradiology

Specialty: Neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsy, vascular disease

Professional Interests: Neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsy, vascular disease, image-guided spine interventions, diffusion MRI and fiber tractography, ultra-high field brain MRI, quantitative MRI