I am Monika (Aržanauskaitė) Radikė, Consultant Cardiothoracic Radiologist. The purpose of this academic site is to give a glimpse to my work by merging the output of two surnames and bridging different domains and collaborations. 

I was born and grew up in a small, green and brave country - Lithuania. After a very interesting graduate and postgraduate training path that among other places took me to Central Hospitals of Lisbon, Sant Pau Hospital in Barcelona, the University Hospital of Brussels and the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, in 2017 I joined Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital as a Consultant Radiologist. My special clinical interests include cardiomyopathy, congenital heart disease and parenchymal lung disease. I like travelling, photography, literature, music and art. In addition, I enjoy learning foreign languages: I speak Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian apart from English and mother tongue Lithuanian. 

Clinical Radiology

Simply put, this is a job I have enjoyed ever since the first day of training. It is interesting, challenging, rewarding and, crucially, all that while striving to make a positive difference for people's health, every day. Cardiovascular and thoracic radiology, apart from ever advancing in technology and applications, is also full of opportunities to work with other disciplines and professions. The subspecialty work is a topic I was interviewed about in the RadCast podcast episode, details here. 

Teaching & Research

First and foremost, I believe clinical, teaching and research environment should be inclusive, friendly and encouraging for freedom of thought and flow of ideas, with all efforts to minimise bias.

I worked as the Trust Specialty Training Lead (a blended role with that of the Clinical Tutor) for Radiology, with Health Education England North West School of Radiology, from 2017 to mid 2023. Some of the results of my work done for this role are outlined in the Radiology Training Project section, and some are published as a peer-reviewed journal article for those who would like to apply similar quality improvement initiatives.
As of autumn 2024, I am a subspecialty co-lead for the Chest and Cardiac Academy Training Curriculum for the North West School of Radiology. For the education domain, I am grateful to the Radiological Society of North America for the 2024 RSNA Rising Star Award.

As a result of my multisystem and multimodality background, I have already developed multiple academic projects linking cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

I enjoy teamwork in research collaborations and joint educational activities, and my academic network is international. I have presented scientific and educational works at multiple national and international congresses and conferences.

I was very fortunate to undertake my doctoral studies with the guidance of the inspirational team of the Cardiovascular program (ICCC), Sant Pau Research Institute at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. I graduated in 2023 with a Cum Laude award and received the Extraordinary PhD prize. Some of the work is available here.

I joined the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences as an Assistant Professor in September 2023 for a visiting lectureship programme on cardiovascular radiology.

I completed the two-year NIHR CRN NWC Research Scholar Programme in December 2023 (#NWRS4, aka Fruit Bowl, is an amazing cohort).
I am a Research Collaborator at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

My current research interests include ischaemic heart disease and cardioprotection, cardiac tumours, structural heart disease and congenital heart disease; I like participating in intersectional and multidisciplinary research and innovation.

Apart from multiple Certificates of Merit, I have been awarded the Fellow Research Prize in Cardiac Imaging by the Radiological Society of North America and Cum Laude by the European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology. In 2023, a scientific paper I led has been awarded by the European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology. 
In 2024, another scientific paper I led (Radiological–pathological correlation in diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia (DIPNECH): imaging and histopathology) was selected Editor's Choice of the month.

Scientific community

It's all about the ripple of "pay it forward" (or caffè sospeso), isn't it?