Award Winners

SNMMI would like to recognize and congratulate its 2021 Award Winners. Please check back throughout the meeting as awards are announced.

Best COVID-19 Abstract (Physician/Scientist) Award

Quantitative Dynamic 18F-FDG-PET/CT Imaging Revealed Residual Lesions in Discharged COVID-19 Patients
Author: Jijin Yao
Institution: Fifth Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University Zhuhai China

SNMMI-TS/ERF Technologist Best COVID-19 Abstract Award

Comparison of Four Infusion Methods for Lutathera Peptide Radionuclide Receptor Therapy
Author: Anne Ellis
Institution: Michigan Medicine Ann Arbor MI United States

SNMMI-TS/Therapy CoE Technologist Best Therapy Abstract Award

Comparison of Four Infusion Methods for Lutathera Peptide Radionuclide Receptor Therapy
Author: Anne Ellis
Institution: Michigan Medicine Ann Arbor MI United States

SNMMI-TS/PET CoE Technologist Best PET Abstract Award

Blanching defects at the pressure points: a potential pitfall in dynamic Total-Body PET/CT studies
Author: Kristin McBride
Institution: Radiology University of California Davis Sacramento CA United States

Oncology, Basic Science Poster Award Winners

1^st Place

Preoperative PET/CT and fluorescence-guided surgery of prostate cancer with the PSMA-11-derived hybrid molecule PSMA-914: First clinical proof-of-concept
Presenting Author: Ann-Christin Eder, PhD
Institution: Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

2^nd Place

Validation of FAPi PET biodistribution by immunohistochemistry in patients with solid cancers: a prospective exploratory imaging study
Presenting Author: Christine Mona, PhD
Institution: UCLA Los Angeles, CA

3^rd Place

A radiotheranostic study for strategic treatment of ovarian cancer peritoneal metastases using the all-in-one multimeric radiopeptide ⁶⁴Cu-cyclam-RAFT-c(-RGDfK)₄
Presenting Author: Zhao-Hui Jin 
Institution: Department of Molecular Imaging and Theranostics, National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology, Chiba, Japan

Physics, Instrumentation, and Data Science Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

The personalized remote radiation tracking (PRRT) vest: experimental results
Presenting Author: Robert Miyaoka, PhD
Institution: University of Washington, Seattle, WA

2^nd Place

MRI Compatibility Measurements of SIAT aPET
Presenting Author: Ziru Sang
Institution: Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Shenzhen, China

3^rd Place

Using LSO background radiation for CT-less attenuation correction of PET data in long axial FOV PET scanners
Presenting Author: Mohammadreza Teimoorisichani
Institution: Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc. Knoxville

General Clinical Specialties Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

Perfusion Only Scans with and without SPECT/CT in the Era of COVID-19
Presenting Author: Ray Rui Zhang
Institution: Stanford Hospital and Clinics, Stanford, CA

2^nd Place

Clinical Utility of PET/CT Imaging with Peptide Imaging Agent ¹²⁴I-p5+14 (AT-01) in Patients with Systemic Amyloidosis
Presenting Author: Jonathan Wall, PhD
Institution: University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine Knoxville, TN

3^rd Place

Chemokine receptor 2 targeted PET imaging in pulmonary fibrosis
Presenting Author: Debbie Sultan 
Institution: Washington University School of Medicine, Radiological Sciences, St. Louis, MO

Neurosciences Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

Monkey, rat, and first in human evaluation of [¹⁸F]PF-06445974, a PET radioligand that preferentially labels phosphodiesterase 4B
Presenting Author: Yuichi Wakabayashi, MD, PhD
Institution: National Institute of Mental Health, Molecular Imaging Branch, Bethesda, MD

2^nd Place

Exploratory multimodal fusion analysis of resting-state activity and mGlu5 receptor availability in alcohol use disorder
Presenting Author: Kelly Smart, PhD
Institution: Yale PET Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT

3^rd Place

Influence of Aβ and neurofibrillary tau deposition on cognition in Down syndrome across the Alzheimer’s disease continuum
Presenting Author: Matthew Zammit 
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI

Cardiovascular Council Young Investigator Award Winners 

Basic Science/preclinical:

1st place

Imaging of mitochondrial function in doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity
Presenting Author: Felicitas J. Detmer, PhD
Institution: Gordon Center for Medical Imaging Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston MA United States

2nd Place

Myocardial glucose suppression interferes with the detection of inflammatory cells with FDG-PET in a canine model of myocardial infarction
Presenting Author: Benjamin Wilk
Institution: Western University London ON Canada

3rd Place

Assessment of lower extremities flow using dynamic Rb-82 PET: Acquisition protocols and quantification methods
Presenting Author: Zhao Liu, PhD
Institution: Yale University Yale University New Haven CT United States

Clinical

1st place

­­­­Improved risk assessment of myocardial SPECT using deep learning: report from REFINE SPECT registry
Presenting Author: Ananya Singh, MS
Institution: Department of Imaging Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles CA United States

2nd Place

⁶⁸Ga-DOTATOC PET/CT to detect immune checkpoint inhibitor-related myocarditis
Presenting Author: Sarah Boughdad, MD, PhD
Institution: CHUV Lausanne Switzerland

3rd Place

Dynamic analysis of ¹¹C-PIB PET/CT in amyloid light-chain cardiac amyloidosis
Presenting Author: Xuezhu Wang
Institution: Department of Nuclear Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Science and Peking Union Medical College Beijing China

SNMMI-TS Technologist Poster Awards 

1st Place 

Effects of image matrix on quantitative metrics in 68Ga DOTATATE studies: Changes in SUV and signal-to-noise ratio in modern digital PET detectors
Author: Amer Pierret
Institution: Radiology, University of Colorado Hospital, UCHealth, Aurora, CO, USA

2nd Place 

Tranquilty Scoring to Optimize Pediatric Imaging and Reduce Radiation on Total-Body PET Scanners 
Author: Heather Hunt 
Institution: UC Davis Medical Center Sacramento CA United States

3rd Place 

Co-Teaching in Nuclear Medicine Technology
Author: C. David Gilmore 
Institution: Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences University, Boston, MA, USA

Physics, Instrumentation, and Data Sciences Council Young Investigator Awards 

1st Place

Design study of a high-resolution and ultrahigh-sensitivity brain SPECT system for imaging medically intractable epilepsy
First author: Elena Maria Zannoni
Institution: Bioengineering University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Champaign IL United States

2nd Place

Data-driven motion compensation using cGAN for total-body [18F]FDG-PET imaging 
First author: Lalith K. Shiyam Sundar
Institution: QIMP team, Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria

3^rd Place

36-to-1 Multiplexing with Prism-PET for High Resolution TOF-DOI PET
First author: Andy LaBella
Institution: Stony Brook University Stony Brook NY United States

Honorable Mention

Super-resolution in brain PET Using a Real Time Motion Capture System
First author: Yanis Chemli
Institution: Gordon Center for Medical Imaging Boston MA United States and LTCI, Telecom Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris Paris France

Unsupervised background removal by dual-modality PET/CT guidance: application to PSMA imaging of metastases
First author: Ivan S. Klyuzhin
Institution: BC Cancer Research Institute Vancouver BC Canada, Microsoft Redmond WA United States and University of British Columbia Vancouver BC Canada

Pre-selecting radiomic features based on their robustness to changes in imaging properties of multicentre data: impact on predictive modelling performance compared to ComBat harmonization of all available features
First author: Da-ano Ronrick
Institution: LatiM UMR-1101 INSERM Brest France

Self-supervised Bone Scan Denoising
First author: Si Young Yie
Institution: Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering Seoul National University Seoul Korea, Republic of

Brain Imaging Council Young Investigator Awards

1st Place

In-vivo tau pathology is associated with synaptic loss and altered synaptic function. 
Presenting Author: Emma M. Coomans
Institution: Department of Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC Amsterdam Netherlands

2nd Place

Neurofibrillary tau emerges in adults with Down syndrome during the earliest stages of Aβ accumulation.  
Presenting Author: Matthew Zammit
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison WI United States

3rd Place

Altered regional cerebral function and its association with cognitive impairment in COVID 19: A prospective FDG PET study  
Presenting Author: Ganna Blazhenets, M. Sc. 
Institution: Department of Nuclear Medicine, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg Freiburg Germany

Therapy Center of Excellence Young Investigator Awards

1st Place

Progression and toxicity following liver Y90 radioembolization: impact of dose metrics, clinical factors, and biomarkers  
Presenting Author: Theresa P. Devasia
Institution: University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI United States

2nd Place

Metastatic Disease Response and Patterns of Recurrence in Men with High-Risk Prostate Cancer after Neo-Adjuvant Chemohormonal Therapy and Radical Prostatectomy utilizing PSMA-Targeted 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT  
Presenting Author: Petra Lovrec, MD
Institution: Department of Radiology University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison WI United States

3rd Place

Safety and efficacy of radioligand therapy with 177lutetium-PSMA-617 within 3 months after 223Radium-dichloride  
Presenting Author: Justus Baumgarten, MD
Institution: Nuclear Medicine University Hospital Frankfurt Frankfurt Germany

CMIIT Young Investigator Awards

1st Place

Optimal [18]F-Misonidazole PET threshold to locate SCC7 tumor hypoxia using EPR pO2 as ground truth  
Presenting Author: Inna H. Gertsenshteyn
Institution: Radiology University of Chicago Chicago IL United States

2nd Place

Synthesis and characterization of [18F]mG2P026 as a high contrast PET imaging ligand for metabotropic glutamate receptor 2  
Presenting Author: Gengyang Yuan
Institution: Gordon Center for Medical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston MA United States

3rd Place

Bispecific INV721 antibody improves specific targeting in neuroblastoma to limit neuropathic pain  
Presenting Author: Zachary Rosenkrans
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison WI United States

RPSC Young Investigator Awards

1^st Place

Radiosynthesis and evaluation of (R)- and (S)-¹⁸F-OF-NB1 for imaging the GluN2B subunits of the NMDA receptor in non-human primates
Author: Hazem Ahmed, PhD
Institution: Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences ETH Zurich Zurich Switzerland

2^nd Place

Evaluation of CB2 PET Radioligand ¹⁸F RoSMA-18-d₆ in Non-Human Primates and Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis
Author: Ahmed Haider
Institution: Department of Radiology, Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School Boston MA United States

3^rd Place

Synthesis and preclinical characterization of a metabolically stable SV2A PET imaging probe: [¹⁸F]SDM-16
Author: Chao Zheng
Institution: Yale School of Medicine New Haven CT United States

Technologist Student Abstract Award Winners

1st Place 

Simulating reduced dose PET imaging to determine impacts on diagnostic image quality.
Author: Robin L. Schroeder
Institution: Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA

2nd Place 

177 Lu-Dotatate therapy for inoperable or metastasized gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: How often do patients discontinue treatment early and why?
Author: Gabriela Feliciano
Institution: Rhode Island Hospital, North Providence, RI, USA

3rd Place 

The Effects of Temperature Change on Tc-99m MAA Radiochemical Purity
Author: Fatimah Almuallim
Institution: Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

Early-Career Professionals Abstract Award Winners

1st Place Clinical

Role of 68Ga-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET/CT in the evaluation of peritoneal carcinomatosis and comparison with 18F-FDG PET/CT.
Author: Haojun Chen, MD
Institution: Department of nuclear medicine The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University Xiamen China

2nd Place Clinical

A Head-to-Head Comparison of 68Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 and 18F-FDG PET/MR in Patients with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: A Prospective Study.
Author: Chunxia Qin, MD, PhD
Institution: Department of Nuclear Medicine Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan China

3rd Place Clinical

Metastatic Disease Response and Patterns of Recurrence in Men with High-Risk Prostate Cancer after Neo-Adjuvant Chemohormonal Therapy and Radical Prostatectomy utilizing PSMA-Targeted 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT.
Author: Petra Lovrec, MD
Institution: Department of Radiology University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison WI United States

1st Place Basic Science 

Validation of FAPi PET biodistribution by immunohistochemistry in patients with solid cancers: a prospective exploratory imaging study.
Author: Christine Mona, PhD
Institution: UCLA Los Angeles CA United States

2nd Place Basic Science

Rapid and mild synthesis of unsymmetrical [11C]ureas from [11C]carbonyl difluoride and amines.
Author: Jimmy E. Jakobsson, PhD
Institution: National Institutes of Mental Health Bethesda MD United States

3rd Place Basic Science

Photodynamic therapy induced by a combination of scintillating liposome &radiolabeled antibody.
Author: Wooseung Lee
Institution: Applied Bioengineering Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University Seoul Korea, Republic of

SNMMI-TS/Cardiovascular Council Best Poster Awards 

1^st place

Synthesis of ^99mTc-labeled Peptide p5+14 for Detection of Cardiac Amyloidosis - Preclinical Studies in a Mouse Model
Author: Alan Stuckey
Institution: University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine Knoxville TN United States

2^nd place

Seeing the big picture: The importance of reviewing the entire field of view in Myocardial Perfusion Imaging and the role of the Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Author: Sarah Frye
Institution: Saint Louis University Saint Louis MO United States

3^rd place

Optimization of Injected Dose for Myocardial Flow Quantification in 13N ammonia PET with Time of Flight Scanner. Noise Equivalent Count Rate analysis
Author: Yoko Kaimoto
Institution: Tokyo Women's Medical University Tokyo Japan

Technologist Best Abstract Award Winners 

1^st Place

Blanching defects at the pressure points: a potential pitfall in dynamic Total-Body PET/CT studies
Author: Kristin McBride
Institution: Radiology University of California Davis Sacramento CA United States

2^nd Place

Comparison of Four Infusion Methods for Lutathera Peptide Radionuclide Receptor Therapy
Author: Anne Ellis
Institution: Michigan Medicine Ann Arbor MI United States

3^rd Place

Advanced PET imaging simultaneously improves image noise and patient throughput in ⁶⁸Ga DOTATATE cans
Author: Katie Moses
Institution: Radiology University of Colorado Hospital, UCHealth Aurora CO United States

Oncology, Clinical Diagnosis and Therapy Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

[18F]fluoro-hydroxyphenethylguanidine ([18F]pHPG): A Novel PET Radiotracer for Imaging of Metastatic Paraganglioma in Humans
Presenting Author: Ka Kit Wong, MBBS
Institution: University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI

2^nd Place

Whole-body dynamic multiparametric PET/CT: temporal stability of standardized uptake values vs. metabolic rates in an oncologic population
Presenting Author: Paul-Robert Derenoncourt, MD
Institution: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO

3^rd Place

¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA-617 versus Cabazitaxel in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: a randomised, open-label, phase 2 trial (TheraP)
Presenting Author: Michael S. Hofman, MBBS 
Institution: Peter MacCallum Cancer and University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Cardiovascular Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

Regional versus global PET function and perfusion computations for detecting cardiac ischemia
Presenting Author: Kenneth J. Nichols, PhD
Institution: St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn, NY

2^nd Place

Predictive value of the proportion of hibernating myocardium in total perfusion defect on reversing remodeling in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and treated by revascularization
Presenting Author: Xiaoli Zhang, MD, PhD
Institution: Beijing Anzhen Hospital Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

3^rd Place

Two-year change in 18F-sodium fluoride uptake in the carotid arteries of healthy subjects and angina pectoris patients
Presenting Author: Reza Piri, MD 
Institution: Odense University Hospital, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Odense, Denmark

Educational Exhibits Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

Diverse spectrum of uncommon tissue involvement in IgG4-related diseases on ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT
Presenting Author: Ashwin S. Parihar, MBBS, MD
Institution: Nuclear Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India

2^nd Place

A Review of Common Thoracic Surgical Procedures For The Nuclear Medicine Physician Utilizing Simple Unique Clay Models
Presenting Author: Perry Gerard, MD, MBA
Institution: Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY

3^rd Place

Clinical Value of PET/CT and PET/MRI for the Assessment of Rheumatic Diseases
Presenting Author: Siavash Mehdizadeh Seraj, MD
Institution: Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Molecular Imaging Probes Poster Award Winners 

1^st Place

Utility of D-[5-¹¹C]-Glutamine for bacteria targeted PET imaging of infections
Presenting Author: Aditi Mulgaonkar, PhD
Institution: University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX

2^nd Place

Investigation of Vape Devices as Novel Drug Delivery Systems Using Fluorine-18 Radiolabelling
Presenting Author: George Herbert, MChem
Institution: The Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Hull—Hull, UK

3^rd Place

ImmunoPET of CD146 in breast cancer metastatic models
Presenting Author: Lei Kang, MD, PhD
Institution: Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China

International Best Abstract Award Winners

177Lu-PSMA-617 versus Cabazitaxel in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: a randomised, open-label, phase 2 trial (TheraP)
Primary Author: Michael Hofman
Country: Australia
Pub #: 1703

Data-driven motion compensation using cGAN for total-body [18F]FDG-PET imaging
Primary Author: Lalith Shiyam Sundar
Country: Austria
Pub #: 35

68Ga-PSMA PET/CT for response assessment and outcome prediction in metastatic prostate cancer undergoing taxane-based chemotherapy
Primary Author: Qaid Shagera
Country: Belgium
Pub #: 15

Pre-operative Evaluation Of Prostate Cancer By Positron Emission Tomography / Computed Tomography (Pet-ct) With Psma-68ga: Correlation With Prostate Magnetic Resonance And Histopathological Findings
Primary Author: Camila Stasiak
Country: Brazil
Pub #: 1,335

Hybrid Machine Learning Methods and Ensemble Voting for Identification of Parkinson’s Disease Subtypes
Primary Author: Mohammad R Salmanpour
Country: Canada
Pub #: 107

Image quality with low dose 18F-FDG digital PET/CT: Preliminary results in 3 healthy volunteers
Primary Author: Ana Hurtado
Country: Chile
Pub #: 183

Role of 68Ga-fibroblast activation protein inhibitor (FAPI) PET/CT in the evaluation of peritoneal carcinomatosis and comparison with 18F-FDG PET/CT
Primary Author: Haojun Chen
Country: China
Pub #: 20

Response monitoring in metastatic breast cancer: a comparison of survival times between FDG-PET/CT and CE-CT
Primary Author: Mohammad Naghavi-Behzad
Country: Denmark
Pub #: 129

Association of robust radiomic features from staging18F-FDG PET/CT in lung cancer with EGFR expression and overall survival
Primary Author: Rehab Mostafa
Country: Egypt
Pub #: 1045

Comparison of stress myocardial Flow Response using regadenoson and dipyridamole in SPECT
Primary Author: Matthieu Bailly
Country: France
Pub #: 1650

Test-Retest Reproducibility of Conventional Quantitative Parameters on PSMA-targeted 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT in Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Primary Author: Rudolf Werner
Country: Germany
Pub #: 1317

Increased metabolic activity of the adrenal glands assessed by 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with Erdheim-Chester disease associated with the BRAF V600E disease causing variant
Primary Author: Georgios Papadakis
Country: Greece
Pub #: 1112

[18F]FDG-PET/MR Imaging of Brown and Beige Adipose Tissues in Preclinical Model
Primary Author: Kel Tan
Country: Hong Kong
Pub #: 1015

Long-term outcome of 225Ac-DOTATATE Targeted Alpha Therapy in Patients with Metastatic Gastroenteropancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors
Primary Author: Chandrasekhar Bal
Country: India
Pub #: 19

Model Selection Based on Population Fitting at an Example of 177Lu-PSMA Kinetics in Kidneys with a Low Number of Data
Primary Author: Deni Hardiansyah
Country: Indonesia
Pub #: 1435

Prediction of human papillomavirus associated oropharyngeal cancer using multiple machine learning algorithms and PET/CT image radiomics features
Primary Author: Atlas Haddadi Avval
Country: Iran, Islamic Republic of
Pub #: 1185

A Simple Adaptive Bandwidth Scheme that Improves Image Quality and Kinetic Quantitation in Dynamic PET Scans
Primary Author: Fengyun Gu
Country: Ireland
Pub #: 1445

Can absorbed radiation doses by organs and tumors after PRRT be estimated from a single SPECT/CT study?
Primary Author: Alexandre Chicheportiche
Country: Israel
Pub #: 18

Prediction of lymph node metastasis from 18F-FDG PET/CT radiomics of cervical cancer
Primary Author: Lavinia Monaco
Country: Italy
Pub #: 1521