During its 2022 Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, from June 11 to 14, SNMMI recognized contributions to the society and to the field of nuclear medicine, as well as excellence in scientific abstracts and posters. Several award ceremonies were held in plenary and other sessions to recognize service, scientific contributions, and the valuable roles SNMMI members play in advancing the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart disease, neurologic, and other conditions.
SNMMI Presidential Distinguished Service Awards
SNMMI Presidential Distinguished Service Awards are given annually to individuals who have made significant impacts within SNMMI during the tenure of each society president. The 9 individuals recognized in 2022 by 2021–2022 President Richard Wahl, MD, have been instrumental in SNMMI outreach efforts, including in virtual education innovations during the pandemic. They were each praised for their “significant contributions to the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging.” Awardees included: Daniel Lee, MD (Ochsner Medical Center; New Orleans, LA), for extraordinary leadership as cochair of the SNMMI Therapy Strategic Planning Task Force and president of the SNMMI Therapy Center of Excellence; John Sunderland, PhD (University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine; Iowa City), for outstanding efforts on The Journal of Nuclear Medicine dosimetry supplement (J Nucl Med. 2021;62[suppl 3]); Phillip Koo, MD (Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center; Gilbert, AZ), for extraordinary service as cochair of the SNMMI Theranostics Symposia and chair of the SNMMI Quality Committee; Bonnie Clarke for outstanding service as Senior Director of Research and Discovery and Quality at SNMMI; Arman Rahmim, PhD (University of British Columbia; Vancouver, Canada), and Ronald Boellaard, PhD (VU University Medical Center; Amsterdam, The Netherlands), for their service as cochairs of the SNMMI Artificial Intelligence Task Force; Pat Zanzonico, PhD (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; New York, NY), for extraordinary service as cochair of the SNMMI Dosimetry Task Force; and George Sgouros, PhD (Johns Hopkins Medicine; Baltimore, MD), for outstanding service as cochair of the SNMMI Dosimetry Task Force. Harvey Ziessman, MD, received the SNMMI Presidential Distinguished Educator Award, which recognizes SNMMI members who have demonstrated outstanding service and dedication to the field of nuclear medicine through their educational efforts. He was commended for his commitment to global education and training of nuclear medicine professionals, from residents to senior leaders.
International Best Abstract Award Winners
In recognition of the increasing representation of physicists, scientists, and others from the global community at its Annual Meeting, SNMMI created the International Best Abstract Awards, given to the highest scoring accepted abstracts from each country. For 2022, the awardees included:
Australia: Jackson et al., “Real-world lesion and renal dosimetry for peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT)”; Austria: Beheshti et al., “Predictive value and accuracy of PET modified response criteria for immunotherapy in patients with advanced melanoma”; Azerbaijan: Novruzov et al., “Head to head comparison of 68Ga-FAPI-46 PET/CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT in breast carcinoma staging: A clinical trial update from Azerbaijan”; Belgium: D’Huyvetter et al., “Preclinical endoradiotherapy using a radiolabeled single-domain antibody targeting fibroblast activation protein”; Brazil: Minozzo et al., “Radionuclides used in nuclear therapeutic medicine: A brief history, properties and main relevant studies of radionuclides with mass number less than 100”; Canada: Lin et al., “Effects of replacing Glu in the PSMA-targeting Lys-urea-Glu pharmacophore of 68Ga-HTK03041 with a close derivative on the uptake of tumor xenograft, kidneys and salivary glands”; China: Song et al., “Non-invasive visualization of liver fibrosis with gallium-68-labeled fibroblast activation protein inhibitor”; Denmark: Carlsen et al., “Prospective phase II trial of prognostication by 68Ga-NODAGA-E[c(RGDyK)]2 PET/CT for integrin alpha v beta 3 imaging in patients with neuroendocrine neoplasms”; Egypt: Nasr et al., “The value of 18F-FDG PET/CT in detection of osteomyelitis in patients with stage IV pressure ulcers”; France: Gauthe et al., “Phase III study of 18F-PSMA-1007 versus 18F-fluorocholine PET to compare the detection rate of prostate cancer lesions in patients with biochemical recurrence after previous definitive treatment for localized prostate cancer”; Herrmann et al., “Multi-cycle dosimetry of 177Lu-PSMA-617 for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: results from the VISION trial sub-study”; Koutsikos et al., “The role of lymphoscintigraphy in breast cancer recurrence”; Hong Kong: Ho et al., “Choice of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) or immune check-point inhibitor guided by dual-tracer (11C-acetate and 18F-FDG) PET/CT improves the progression-free survival in patients with advanced or metastatic HCC”; India: Bal et al., “A phase II clinical study on 225Ac-DOTATATE therapy in advanced stage gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor patients”; Iran: Roustaei et al., “In vivo assessment of CXCR4 receptor expression in high-grade glioma using 68Ga-pentixafor PET/CT”; Ireland: Gu et al., “Feasibility of standard and generalized Patlak models for dynamic imaging of multiple organs using the uEXPLORER PET scanner”; Israel: Chicheportiche et al., “Can absorbed doses by organs and tumors after PRRT be predicted from the pre-therapeutic 68Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT study?”; Italy: Bezzi et al., “Imaging parameters and machine learning models to evaluate the prognostic role of 18F-FDG PET in staging endometrial cancer patients”; Japan: Hu et al., “Chemically evolutionary screening of cyclic peptides for PET imaging of PD-L1 protein in tumors”; Jordan: Juweid et al., “Effect of degenerative lumbar changes on trabecular bone score (TBS) in patients assessed for osteoporosis in routine clinical practice”; Kenya: Munemo et al., “Comparison of two methods of semi-quantitative analysis of FDG PET brain scans”; Macao: Chen et al., “Voxel-S-value based treatment planning methods using Tc-99m-MAA SPECT/CT for liver radioembolization”; Mexico: Cardoza-Ochoa et al., “Vaccine-associated hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy on 18F-FDG PET/CT: Experience from a single center in Mexico”; The Netherlands: Eertink et al., “18F-FDG PET radiomics features result in more accurate prediction of outcome for DLBCL patients than currently used IPI score”; Norway: Kyassheim et al., “Quantitative imaging of Pb-212”; Pakistan: Jabeen et al., “Rising frequency of differentiated thyroid cancer in younger population”; Philippines: Pascual et al., “Cost-effectiveness of F-18 FDG PET/CT in lung and colorectal cancer: A systematic review and narrative synthesis”; Poland: Malkowski et al., “18F-FET-PET/MR-guided biopsies of contrast-enhancing gliomas: A prospective study”; Romania: Niculae et al., “Innovative theranostic agents for colon cancers, based on peptide-functionalized iron oxide nanoparticles: Preclinical evaluation”; Serbia: Mihailovic et al., “The diagnostic value of F-18 FDG-PET/CT imaging in detection of recurrent and metastatic breast cancer”; Singapore: Zhang et al., “Long-term efficacy, survival, and toxicity of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy in patients with refractory meningioma”; South Africa: Maserumule et al., “Initial experience of lung metastases response to 225Ac-PSMA-617 therapy in metastatic prostate adenocarcinoma”; South Korea: Ryoo et al., “Distinct subtypes of spatial brain metabolism patterns in Alzheimer’s disease identified by deep learning-based FDG PET clusters”; Spain: Riveira et al., “Predictive value of dose metrics from 99mTc-MAA compared to 90Y SPECT/CT in dosimetry-guided personalized SIRT of hepatocellular carcinoma”; Sri Lanka: Wimalarathne et al., “Impact of time-of-flight (TOF) reconstruction on 40-segmented brain volumes of (±) AD patients with short-lived 11C-Pittsburgh compound-B PET/MR imaging”; Sweden: Lubberink et al., “Evaluation of DOTA as a marker for myocardial blood flow using 68Ga-DOTA and 15O-water PET”; Switzerland: Shiri et al., “Cross-site PET image harmonization by using unsupervised deep generative adversarial network for improving quantitative indices reproducibility”; Taiwan: Guan et al., “A novel 177Lu-labeled dual CA9-targeted probe as a potential theranostic radiopharmaceutical for hypoxic colorectal cancer diagnosis and therapy”; Thailand: Thientunyakit et al., “Multi-modal neuroimaging studies in default mode network areas in predicting a progressive neurocognitive decline in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)”; United Kingdom: Pemberton et al., “Software compatibility analysis for quantitative measures of 18F-flutemetamol amyloid PET burden”; Uruguay: Zirbesegger et al., “Cellular specificity assessment and longitudinal PET study in a transgenic mice model of a 18F-labelled sulforhodamine 101 in astrocytosis processes in Alzheimer’s disease”; and Yemen: Alobthani et al., “FDG PET/CT is more likely to detect the primary source of the cancer of unknown primary when presented with cervical lymph nodes metastasis.”
In addition, the Education and Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging/SNMMI this year presented a Best COVID-19 (Physician/Scientist) Award to Khandekwal et al. (Lucknow, India) for “A prospective study to investigate the implementation of semiquantitative inflammatory load in post-COVID-19 lung disease (PCLD) to strategize therapy” and a Best COVID-19 (Technologist) Award to Vyas et al. (Auckland, New Zealand) for “A model for remote installation of radiochemistry synthesiser; Trasis—AllInOne: One step forward to beat Covid-19 pandemic.”
Award-Winning Posters
More than 800 posters were on display in the Exhibit Hall at the SNMMI Annual Meeting in Vancouver, with multiple ask-the-author sessions and point-of-display discussions. Winning posters and e-posters were selected from the top 10 candidates in each scientific track, based on visual appearance/quality, content, and original scientific contribution. Posters are available on the website of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine at: https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/snmmi-annual-meeting-abstracts. Poster awardees included:
Cardiovascular Track: First place, Diekmann et al., “Cardiac molecular PET-imaging of fibroblast activation in patients with aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)”; second place, Thorn et al., “Early cardiac gated blood pool imaging with “hotspot” agent provides simultaneous assessment of left ventricular function in an ischemia-reperfusion model”; and third place, Miller et al., “Development and external validation of ischemia risk scores.”
Educational Track: First place, Suthar et al., “18F-FDG PET/CT imaging features of parotid lesions: Case based pictorial review and its multi-modality correlation”; second place, Schroeder et al., “Cue up the video: Visual learning for efficient orientation of trainees to their nuclear medicine rotations”; and third place, Ali et al. “Renal scintigraphy following kidney transplantation: ATN, rejection, and more.”
General Clinical Specialties Track: First place, Bini et al., “Liver and brain levels of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 enzyme in obesity: Preliminary results from PET imaging studies”; Paravastu et al., “Quantitative analysis of 18F-NaF-PET/CT imaging: Evaluation of denosumab treatment in fibrous dysplasia”; and third place, Lawrence et al., “99mTc-macroaggregated albumin (MAA) stability when used in the SNMMI Procedure Guideline for Adult Solid-Meal Gastric-Emptying Scintigraphy.”
Molecular Targeting Probes, Radioactive and Nonradioactive Track: First place, Mueller et al., “Radiopharmaceutical production of [Pb-203]VMT-α-NET for clinical use”; second place, Yu et al., “Development and preliminary evaluations of novel PET tracers for imaging TARP γ-8 receptors”; and third place, Naka et al., “Development of a novel LAT1-selective PET probe for improved tumor retention.”
Neurosciences Track: First place, Zirbesegger et al., “Cellular specificity assessment and longitudinal PET study in a transgenic mice model of a 18F-labelled sulforhodamine 101 in astrocytosis processes in Alzheimer’s disease”; second place, Takahashi et al., “Small brain nuclei identification using helmet-type positron emission tomography in healthy volunteers”; and third place, Neelamegam et al., “Preclinical evaluation of [11C]MPC-6827, a microtubule PET tracer in synucleinopathy.”
Oncology Basic and Translational Track: First place, Hoffman et al., “In vitro targeted radionuclide therapy studies of a PARP-targeted Meitner-Auger electron emitting radiopharmaceutical”; second place, Watabe et al., “Targeted alpha therapy using astatine (211At)-labeled PSMA5: A preclinical evaluation as a new novel compound”; and third place, Jeaniean et al., “Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) as a target for radioligand therapy in glioblastoma.”
Oncology: Clinical Therapy and Diagnosis Track: First place, Nabavizadeh et al., “18F-fluciclovine PET and multi-parametric MRI to distinguish pseudoprogression from tumor progression in post-treatment glioblastoma”; second place, Hotta et al., “Outcome of patients with PSMA-PET/CT screen failure by VISION criteria and treated with 177Lu-PSMA therapy: A multicenter retrospective analysis”; and third place, Hotta et al., “PSMA PET tumor-to-salivary glands ratio (PSG score) to predict response to Lu-177 PSMA radioligand therapy: An international multicenter retrospective study.”
Physics, Instrumentation, and Data Sciences Track: First place, Woolley et al., “Development of a dynamic lung phantom for use in lung ventilation studies”; second place, Cai et al., “An ultrahigh energy resolution SPECT system for quantitative hyperspectral imaging of targeted alpha therapy”; and third place, Pan et al., “Data-driven gated (DDG) CT: An automated respiratory gating method to enable DDG PET/CT.”
- © 2022 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.