Karen M. Horton, M.D.

Credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine

Karen M. Horton, M.D., has been named director of the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science. She had been interim director of the department and chairman of the board of Johns Hopkins Medical Imaging, LLC, since February 2016.

 Horton has distinguished herself as an innovative and effective leader since joining the radiology faculty as an assistant professor in 1998. In 2008, she became the 144th woman within the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to be promoted to professor at Johns Hopkins. She is a prolific researcher and a leading authority in the radiology community as an expert in body CT imaging, 3-D post-processing of CT data and virtual colonoscopy.

 Horton is a frequently featured speaker nationally and has been an author on more than 250 publications. In addition to her research endeavors, Horton is a committed educator. She served as director of the Radiology Residency Program for five years, and during her tenure, she made significant improvements to the residency curriculum while working with department leaders to increase diversity by recruiting more women and underrepresented minorities.

While serving as acting chair of the Department of Radiology at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, she established subspecialty divisions and integrated them with the radiology department at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She also served as vice chair of operations and executive vice chair of the department before assuming the role as interim director of radiology. During the past year, Horton assembled a Johns Hopkins Community Radiology Division to provide services at Sibley Memorial Hospital and Suburban Hospital. 

 Horton earned her bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She received her medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society. She completed her radiology residency and a fellowship in cross-sectional imaging at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.