WASHINGTON, D.C. - Antonella Guardiola, the nuclear medicine resource (chief technologist) and technical coordinator at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Ill., has been named 2007 SNMTS Outstanding Technologist. This award, which recognizes outstanding service and dedication to the field of nuclear medicine technology, was announced June 5 during the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM, the world's largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine professionals.

"Antonella Guardiola's extraordinary work - and dedication to her patients - merits this special recognition," said SNM Technologist Section President D. Scott Holbrook. "Among her many achievements, she promotes the value of nuclear medicine technology and mentors new technologists. She consistently goes above and beyond what is expected," he added.

As Northwestern's chief technologist for the past six years, Guardiola oversees a department that performs an average of 70 studies on a daily basis. Her responsibilities include the scheduling of performed procedures and the workload of 18 technologists and managing physician orders/requests and patient concerns. As technical coordinator, she is involved with computer processing and the manipulation of medical images and data storage. She is also the clinical supervisor for 12 students for the hospital's School of Nuclear Medicine.
She has held several positions at Northwestern Memorial Hospital since 1999. Before becoming the nuclear medicine resource coordinator in 2004 and the technical coordinator in 2006, Guardiola served as the nuclear cardiology resource coordinator and staff nuclear medicine technologist. Prior to joining Northwestern, Guardiola was the registry nuclear medicine technologist and chief nuclear medicine technologist, both at Edgewater Medical Center in Chicago. She was also the staff nuclear medicine technologist at both the Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines, Ill., and the Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill.

Guardiola received both her associate's degree in applied science and her nuclear medicine certification from the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill. She holds certifications from the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board and the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists. She has given presentations on "Clinical Evaluation to Assess Gastric Empting Anterior vs. Geometric Mean," "Clinical Techniques to Assess Degree of Perfusion to Renal Pancreas Transplant Using Tc99m Exametazime" and "Evaluation of Reproducibility of Gated Ejection Fractions."

"I would like to express my appreciation to SNMTS for giving me the opportunity to share my experience and learn from others within our field," said Guardiola, who received the Most Outstanding Employee Award from Northwestern Memorial Hospital. "I have great enthusiasm for my profession and will continue to dedicate my efforts in mentoring others for the advancement of nuclear medicine technology," she added.

Guardiola has received $750 and a plaque as SNMTS Outstanding Technologist. The Education and Research Foundation for SNM provided funding for this award.

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