Abass Alavi, MD, and Steven Larson, MD, known for their substantial research and contributions to the field of nuclear medicine, were awarded the Benedict Cassen Prize. This honor is given every two years by the Education and Research Foundation for SNM to living scientists or physician/scientists whose work has led to a major advance in basic or clinical nuclear medicine science.

Alavi and Larson each presented the Cassen Lectureship, which focused on the evolution of FDG-PET imaging techniques over the past three decades. Alavi discussed unparalleled contributions of FDG-PET imaging to medicine, while Larson addressed molecular imaging and therapy in advanced prostate and thyroid cancer.

Trained in internal medicine, hematology and nuclear medicine, Alavi is currently a professor of radiology and director of research education at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has conducted pioneering research in modern imaging techniques including PET, single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Alavi earned his medical degree from the University of Tehran School of Medicine in 1964. He then traveled to the United States and completed residencies at the Albert Einstein Medical Center and the Veterans Administration Hospital, both in Philadelphia, Penn., as well as at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Mass. He completed fellowships in hematology and in nuclear medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, also in Philadelphia.

During his career at the University of Pennsylvania, Alavi has been a prolific researcher, with his research activities supported primarily by the National Institutes of Health. He has published more than 900 scientific papers, more than 150 book chapters, editorials and reviews and 34 books, making him the most published and cited faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served in editorial positions for many journals and currently is the consulting editor for PET Clinics and editor in chief of Current Molecular Imaging and Advances in Bioscience and Biotechnology. Alavi has also mentored more than 140 trainees in nuclear medicine, some of whom are leaders in the field internationally.

December 2012 Magazine

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