A Recap of UCSF Radiology at SNMMI 2019

The UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging had a strong presence at the recent Society for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Annual Meeting held June 22-25, 2019 in Anaheim, CA. This year's scientific program included 80 scientific sessions featuring 740 oral abstract presentations, and a scientific poster hall with more than 1,100 posters.

Miguel Hernandez Pampaloni, MD, former chief of Nuclear Medicine at UCSF Radiology, is a member of the Cardiovascular Council of the SNMMI. He was part of a 15-minute lecture series by the world’s top nuclear cardiologists on image guided decision making and therapy for optimal cardiovascular tatient care. His case study analysis was on cardiac sarcoidosis.

A popular part of the program is “Nuts & Bolts” sessions on a wide variety of sub-specialty areas–giving participants practical information they can use immediately upon returning to work. Thomas Hope, MD, associate professor in residence, presented on prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT for prostate cancer diagnosis as part of a session on prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy. Dr. Hope was also a moderator on a session titled ‘The Era of Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT):  Personalization, Integration and Future Perspectives.’ Ashley Mishoe, PharmD, cyclotron facilities manager, presented on kit-based Ga-68 radiopharmaceuticals as part of a “Nuts & Bolts” session on Ga-68 radiochemistry. She also presented as part of a session on ‘Perspectives of a New Radiopharmacist’ as part of a continuing education (CE) session on making the transition from training to the nuclear medicine workforce.

Mariam Aboian, MD, PhD, nuclear medicine clinical fellow, made a presentation on ‘PET/MRI Imaging of Brain Tumors: From FDG to Amino Acid Tracers and Future Directions.’ Nicholas Fidelman, MD, associate professor of clinical radiology, made a presentation on ‘Is There Still a Role of Liver-Directed Therapies in the Era of PRRT?’ as part of a joint session with the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) on sequencing therapies for metastatic neuroendocrine tumors

Ella Jones, PhD, research specialist, was the lead author on a study titled ‘Dedicated Breast PET for Detection of Early Treatment Response in Breast Cancer Patients’ that was presented at SNMMI 2019. Co-authors from UCSF Radiology included Kimberly Ray, MD; Wen Li, PhD; Ben Franc, MD; Youngho Seo, PhDMiguel Hernandez Pampaloni, MDBonnie Joe, MD, PhD and Nola Hylton, PhD. Other authors from UCSF include Amy Jo Chien, MDRita Mukhtar, MD and Laura Esserman, MD, all of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center).

Erika-Padilla Morales, nuclear medicine technologist, Adela Tan, RN, and Dr. Thomas Hope presented on ‘Comparison of Patient Experience with Commercial Versus Compounded Amino Acid Infusion for 177Lu-DOTATATE Therapy.’ This research won the Technologist Best Therapy/Nuclear Oncology Oral Abstract from the SNMMI-TS (Technologist Section).

Youngho Seo, PhD was an author on ‘Attenuation Correction of PET/MR Using Cycle-Consistent Adversarial Network’ which was presented as part of the ‘Physics, Instrumentation and Data Science Young Investigator Award Session.’ Dr. Seo was also an author on another presentation, ‘In Vivo Measure of Cardiac Efficiency Using Hybrid PET/MRI Technology,’ with Karen Ordovas, MD, MAS, Jing Liu, PhD, Grant Gullberg, PhD, et. al, also presented at SNMMI 2019.

Chloee Wendorf, nuclear medicine technologist supervisor for the UCSF Parnassus location, also attended SNMMI 2019. Earlier this year, she attended the SNMMI-TS Leadership Academy which actively works with 15-20 technologists per year who have demonstrated leadership abilities and engagement. This took place at the SNMMI 2019 Mid-Winter Meeting which was held from January 17 – 19, 2019 in Palm Springs, CA. This was awarded via an application and selection process. Chloe currently sits on the SNMMI Professional Development Task Force.

Overall, it was a great experience in Anaheim, and the Department of Nuclear Medicine looks forward to attending SNMMI 2020 in New Orleans!

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