Two Leaders

This month’s volume features 2 leadership discussions. One follows the line of conversation that JNM editors conducted with research and industry leaders for more than a year. Dr. Howard Soule serves as the Chief Science Officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF), which has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in support of generations of prostate cancer researchers and research. Major drug developments and clinical trials were made possible by the PCF. He provides insights into the history, philosophy, mind-set, and leadership structure of this unique philanthropic organization that has become the major force behind prostate cancer research worldwide.

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Johannes Czernin

A second one presents the thoughts and action plan of Johnese Spisso, MBA, who serves as the president of UCLA Health and the chief executive officer of the UCLA Hospital System. As such, Spisso is at the forefront in the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Her insights should be of great interest to readers as she provides perspectives on both the time course of the pandemic and the operational adjustments to it. She highlights the heroic efforts of the entire health-care workforce at a time of extreme emotional stress and discusses mitigation strategies. She also provides insights into the economic consequences on hospital systems locally, throughout the country, and worldwide.

How are we addressing the needs of patients with unrelated diseases? How can we maintain the highest-quality services when we may need to be allocate most resources to COVID-19–afflicted patients? Can we safely ramp up surgical services, invasive interventions, and even standard diagnostic procedures without compromising patient safety (1–4)? Spisso discusses these and other issues.

The pandemic itself has changed our lives. Overcoming the economic fallout in health-care–related and –unrelated businesses will be the great subsequent challenge and balancing act once COVID-19 is under control.

• © 2020 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.