Cynthia K Rigsby

Dr. Cynthia K. Rigsby is the Earl J. Frederick Distinguished Professor of Radiology and a Professor in both the Department of Radiology (Pediatric Radiology) and Pediatrics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. She holds clinical appointments at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital, and Northwestern Memorial Hospital. She is affiliated with the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS), Simpson Querrey Institute for Epigenetics, and Stanley Manne Children's Research Institute.

Education includes a BA (1986) and MD (1990) from Duke University, internship at University of North Carolina Hospitals (1991), residency at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (1995), and fellowship at Cincinnati Children's Hospital (1996). Board certifications: Diagnostic Radiology and Pediatric Radiology.

Her research focuses on pediatric cardiovascular CT/MR imaging, congenital heart disease diagnostics, and optimization of imaging protocols for pediatric patients. She specializes in developing non-invasive cardiac assessment methods and analyzing imaging utilization trends in pediatric cardiology.

With 175+ publications, her recent work (2024-2025) emphasizes advanced cardiovascular MRI techniques, automated image analysis pipelines, and comparative studies of cardiac imaging modalities. Key themes include pediatric heart transplant monitoring, 4D flow MRI innovation, and clinical applications of emerging radiology technologies.

Awards & Honors:

• Evens Society Honoree (2024)
• Castle-Connolly Top Doctor (2020-2024)
• Fellow, American Academy of Pediatrics (2019)
• Outstanding Teacher Award, Feinberg School of Medicine (2019)
• Fellow, Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (2018)
• A. Todd Davis Outstanding Physician Award (2004)

Professional leadership includes serving as President of the Society for Pediatric Radiology (2021-2022) and committee roles in the American College of Radiology, Radiological Society of North America, and American Association of Physicists in Medicine.