Her Story
About Sadhna
Sadhna Verma is a radiologist with about 29 to 30 years of experience in academic medicine. She works in the abdominal radiology department at the University Hospital of Cincinnati and oversees the Center of Excellence for Prostate Imaging at both that institution and the Cincinnati VA, where she also remotely supports programs in Dayton, Columbus, Chillicothe, and helped establish one in Indianapolis. After training at the University of Cincinnati and Johns Hopkins, she returned to Cincinnati and began developing advanced prostate imaging techniques approximately 15 years ago, including starting a prostate MRI program, advancing image fusion for targeted diagnosis, and working on focal therapy. She played a key role in bringing PIRADS guidelines to the United States through the American College of Radiology after collaborating with European colleagues. Verma is a member of the Radiological Society of North America and the American College of Radiology. She attributes her success to curiosity, persistence, and support from her mentor Dr. Robert Lukin, and she values being approachable and compassionate while teaching residents and fellows.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Sadhna
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think being at the right place at the right time, but more my interest and curiosity in trying to see how things could work differently. I wasn't expecting it to work so well. Not giving up and being relentless. My mentor Dr. Robert Lukin really believed in me and was agreeable to things I wanted to try.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Never ask somebody who's not doing anything to do any work or to work with you. The busiest person is the best person to work with, because that's the reason they're busy. From my mentor at Johns Hopkins, Elliot Fishman.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
When it's said oh this is not possible, this just doesn't work this way, just don't accept it. Don't accept it for face value. Look into it, try different ways. It may not always be successful, but at least you tried. If you don't try, you'll never know.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge is in terms of research because a lot of the grants have been cut. We need multi-institutional research and working across institutions. The second is in the government setting where we don't have a good national way of organizing things, which I'm trying to work on.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
In medicine, especially academic medicine, being humane. Being approachable, caring and compassion. Not losing sight of being humane when successful. Being at the level of residents and fellows, caring for where they are.
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