Eugene C. Klatte, MD, distinguished professor emeritus of radiology at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine, passed away on June 19, 2025. He was 97 years old.
Klatte served as chair of radiology at Vanderbilt University and Indiana University for a combined 30 years. Born in Indiana, Klatte received an AB (bachelor’s) degree in chemistry with high honors from IU Bloomington in 1949 and an MD degree with highest honors from IU School of Medicine in 1952. He completed his internship at the University of Michigan, and later joined the United States Air Force where he was introduced to the field of radiology. After finishing his military service in 1955, he became a resident in radiology at the University of California San Francisco.
In 1957, he returned to the IU School of Medicine as a Picker Scholar in radiological research and instructor in radiology, later serving as an associate professor and director of pediatric and cardiovascular surgery. While at IU, Klatt helped develop the Division of Pediatric Radiology at IU School of Medicine and the Department of Radiology & Imaging at Riley Hospital for Children, before departing in 1962 to serve as chair of the radiology department at Vanderbilt University.
As professor and chair of radiology at Vanderbilt, Klatte brought the department to national prominence, returning to IU School of Medicine in 1971 to do the same for our own Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences. He was professor (and later, distinguished professor) and chair of radiology and imaging sciences at IU School of Medicine for 20 years, from 1971 to 1991.
Klatte recalled his decision to leave Vanderbilt and return to IU School of Medicine in a 2022 interview:
“I bargained very hard on the financial viewpoint as I thought this was an important opportunity to try to get a firm foundation of the department [of radiology and imaging sciences at IU School of Medicine] … [I] had to go all the way to the [IU] board of trustees, not just the hospital and the dean, to get an agreement that we could control the finances of the department. This was terribly important, and I sometimes think… [that] did more for the department before I arrived personally than I may have when I was chair for 20 years. So, we came in then with a firm foundation that was for the future. We were able to add faculty needed, to develop research space, even in the (endowment) of the department.”
An expert on medical imaging, Klatte was responsible early in his tenure as chair for obtaining Indiana’s first Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) imaging device, a state-of-the-art machine for viewing body tissues. In 1982, he oversaw IU’s acquisition of a Magnetic Resonance Imager (or MRI)—making IU School of Medicine one of the first medical schools in the world to acquire such technology. Installed in the basement of University Hospital, the MRI served all four hospitals as well as faculty from all departments.
Klatte was a founding member of both the Society for Pediatric Radiology and what is now the Society for Interventional Radiology. He received gold medals from the Association of University Radiologists, the American Roentgen Ray Society, and the Radiological Society of North America. He also served as the president of the Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments and served on the Board of Trustees of the American Board of Radiology.
Klatte served as a role model to his students and an inspiration to his colleagues, in no small part due to his tireless work ethic, professional integrity, commitment to lifelong learning and his everlasting devotion to family.
Work Ethic
Klatte achieved a well-earned reputation as a tireless worker: after he retired (and while in his 70s), Klatte returned to full-time practice at Riley Hospital for Children, where he was the first radiologist in the hospital every morning and consistently ranked as the most clinically productive in his section.
Colleagues remarked that Klatte would never ask anyone to do what he was unwilling to do himself; despite his relatively advanced age, he insisted on working full-time and taking his full share of overnight and weekend calls, and did the morning staffing of night float residents for several years.
Both long-time colleagues and junior physicians in other specialties sought him out for clinical consultation, due to his expertise but also his sincere love of the practice of pediatric radiology: contributing to the care of infants, children and adolescents brought him to life. Klatte was also a dedicated teacher to medical students and residents alike, receiving multiple awards for educational excellence.
Professionalism
Klatte was known as a person of integrity, and he expected the same from others. If a colleague was unable to give a lecture, Klatte would step in without a second thought. He saw what others might regard as inconveniences as opportunities to serve. Colleagues noted he seemed to approach each day as an opportunity to contribute as much as he possibly could.
Klatte was both a role model and an inspiration to pediatric radiologists past, present, and future, not only for his expertise, but most notably for his dedicated care for patients and his commitment to helping colleagues thrive.
In his 2022 interview, Klatte was asked what education meant to him:
“I’ve trained almost 300 radiologists, or at least been a part of the group that trained that [number], and to watch what’s happened to them and… [their] development and what they’ve given to society in the field of radiology has been terribly satisfying, a great great thing . . . I had the best of all worlds. Not only did I have all that [the “satisfaction of going to work thinking that you may help someone”] but I also had the other thing that is terribly important [which] is what we should do to prepare the next generation and to be a part of that . . .”
The current Chair of the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Jason W. Allen, MD, PhD, and the holder of the Eugene C. Klatte Professorship, spoke of Klatte as having “had such a large impact on our department and our profession. It is such an honor for me to hold his named professorship.”
Richard B. Gunderman, MD, PhD, another colleague, similarly observed of Klatte: “His legacy is great and lives on in so many.”
Lifelong Learning
Klatte was the epitome of a lifelong learner. During his tenure, he freely shared cases with others and was the first to look a colleagues’. He was by far the most devoted patron of the department library, pouring over decades of bound volumes of radiology journals in search of case reports, clinical series and research studies.
As a clinician, Klatte kept a spiral bound notebook in the pocket of his white coat, containing good examples of different pathologies and notes for following up on surgical and pathological findings in his cases. The temporary misplacement of one of these notebooks would result in a department-side all-points bulletin.
Klatte held an abiding curiosity about radiological findings and differential diagnoses and relished helping referring physicians solve diagnostic puzzles and clinical dilemmas. He consistently brought several cases to present at the department’s weekly “interesting case” conference and was the first to present cases that he had missed, always with humility and a sincere desire to help colleagues avoid similar mistakes.
Devotion to Family
Perhaps Klatte’s most notable and enduring quality was his devotion to family. He and his wife, Barbara, met at Riley Hospital for Children: he was a medical student, and she was a nursing student. They married immediately after his graduation and remained together for her entire life, for 58 years.
Barbara contracted polio while pregnant with their third of five daughters, resulting in her dependency on an “iron lung”. As the decades passed, post-polio syndrome confined her to a wheelchair and required her to obtain help to perform routine activities, including dressing and personal care. Klatte’s immediately incorporated her care into his daily schedule — each day he worked in the hospital, Barbara would join him. He would help her from the car to her wheelchair and into the hospital, where she would remain in his office throughout the day. At midday, the two would eat lunch together, and at the end of the day, he would wheel her back to the car and help her into her seat.
Klatte regarded his wife as his lifelong companion and friend, and his devotion shined through in the many photographs of the couple throughout the years. Despite her disability, they made many trips to locations across the country and the world. He also saw to it that each of his children and grandchildren had the support they needed to pursue their educations as far as they wished.
Klatte also fostered a sense of family in his professional circles. He and his family would regularly host departmental gatherings that welcomed all (not just doctors or faculty), including retired and departed colleagues as well as those in other departments. These gatherings, together with his winter holiday gatherings, biweekly department lunches and intramural basketball and softball teams, became integral to the culture of the department, even as it grew in size and prominence.
Tribute to Eugene Klatte, MD by Radya Osman, MD and Richard B. Gunderman, MD, PhD with additional support from Karen Bruner Stroup, PhD
References and Further Reading
Radya Osman and Richard B. Gunderman, A Model of Professionalism: Eugene Klatte, MD, Pediatric Radiology (2020) 50:: 1645-1647.
Eugene Klatte Biographical File, Vanderbilt University, Heard Libraries: https://collections.library.vanderbilt.edu/repositories/4/resources/2398
Eugene Klatte Reflects on time in Radiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, October 18, 2022: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4gRrlkxBYU
Hester Anne Hale, Through the Years: A Living History of the Indiana University School of Medicine Department of Radiology, 1906-2004, AuthorHouse, 11/04/04. See: The Klatte Years, 11971-1991, pp. 91-134: https://archives.indianapolis.iu.edu/items/05c04756-6e4c-476a-95e6-2b6c0595c04c
