Thekla Oechtering MD, PD Dr med

Thekla H. Oechtering, MD, PD Dr med grew up in Leipzig, Germany. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Lübeck in Germany where she also completed her residency and worked as an attending at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein and led her cardiac MRI research lab. In 2024, she received her Habilitation, the highest university degree in Germany.

Dr. Oechtering joined the UW Department of Radiology in 2020 as a visiting assistant professor before transitioning to a scientist role in 2023 and then a Cardiothoracic fellow in 2024. After completing her fellowship, she joined the Cardiovascular Imaging section as an assistant professor and director of 4D flow MRI. Since 2024, she has also served as the co-director of Radius.

She is a junior fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and chair of the Flow and Motion Study Group of ISMRM. She gives invited lectures at national and international society meetings such as ISMRM, the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). She received multiple national and international awards such as the Eugenie and Felix Wachsmann Innovation Award of the German Roentgen Society and the Horst-Seils Award for outstanding research from the North German Society of Radiology. In 2022, Dr. Oechtering was awarded the Albers-Schönberg Medal from the German Röntgen Society in recognition of her long-standing commitment to the Society and the establishment of the young radiologists’ organization Young Radiology Forum, becoming the first woman and youngest recipient to ever receive this award.

Her professional interests include 4D flow MRI, cardiac MRI, and MR Angiography. In close collaboration with colleagues from the UW Departments of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering as well as the UW Divisions of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Department of Medicine and Cardiothoracic Surgery in the Department of Surgery, she aims to improve the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular diseases by implementing 4D flow MRI into clinical routine. Her special focus lies on postsurgical aortic hemodynamics and portal hypertension as well as validation of 4D flow MRI.