CHILI 2018

Prof. Dr. Clemens Cyran is Professor of Radiology at the faculty of Medicine of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany. After graduation from Medical School in Munich, Prof. Cyran assumed a position as postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Pharmaceutical and Molecular Imaging, University of California San Francisco, from 2006 to 2007 with a research focus on imaging biomarkers of therapy response in experimental oncology. Prof. Cyran completed his residency in radiology in Munich in 2013 and is also board certified in diagnostic nuclear medicine. Between 2017 and 2019 Prof. Cyran served as vice chair of the Department of Radiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich and was section chief of the hybrid imaging department. Following a period in private practice, Prof. Cyran returned to academia in July 2020 reassuming his position as vice chair at the Department of Radiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. The research focus of Prof. Cyran is the development and validation of imaging biomarkers of therapy response in oncology using multimodality hybrid imaging techniques, including MRI, multi-tracer PET and optical fluorescence imaging, with a strong translational focus. Current projects investigate methods of automated image analysis of digital molecular imaging data using artificial intelligence based algorithms as well as AI-based analytics for multidisciplinary diagnostic data in integrated diagnostics.

Irène Buvat received her PhD degree in “Particle and Nuclear Physics” from Paris Sud University, France, in 1992 and oriented her career towards applications of Nuclear Physics to Medical Imaging. She spent one year at University College London, UK, and two years at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA. In 1995, she entered the French “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique”. She is currently the head of the “In Vivo Molecular Imaging” research lab at the Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot PET center in Orsay, France. Her research interests focus on developing quantification methods to make the most of SPECT and PET data coupled with CT or MRI for understanding biological mechanisms or optimizing patient management. She has been the spokesperson of the worldwide OpenGATE collaboration developing the GATE Monte Carlo opensource simulation tool dedicated to emission and transmission tomography and radiotherapy applications for 10 years. She is currently largely involved in so-called radiomic approaches to further enhance the role of PET/CT and PET/MR in precision medicine. She has always been very active in training students and in knowledge and software dissemination and promotes open-access to high-standard research material.

Dr José L Vercher-Conejero is a nuclear medicine physician in the Department of Nuclear Medicine/PET Unit at the University Hospital of Bellvitge (Barcelona, Spain). During his training period, for his merits he was awarded a scholarship by the Official College of Physicians of Valencia and invited by the Mount Sinai Medical Hospital of New York to perform a rotation in the Department of Radiology. He has been working at the University and Polytechnic Hospital La Fe in Valencia (Department of Nuclear Medicine – Clinical Area of Medical Imaging), being also a member of the “Biomedical and Imaging Research Group – (GIBI230)”, and carried out a fellowship in the Department of Radiology at UH Hospital/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland (Ohio, USA), specializing in PET/MRI and digital PET mainly. His interests are in oncological PET/CT, PET/MR, SPECT/CT, FDG and Non-FDG radiopharmaceuticals, and radiometabolic therapy (PRRT for NETs, endocrine disorders and endocrine oncology, treatment of bone metastases, microspheres with Y-90 for the treatment of intrahepatic tumour lesions, among others). From March 2019, Dr Vercher-Conejero is the Hybrid Imaging Ambassador for Spain for the European Society for Hybrid, Molecular and Translational Imaging (ESHIMT).

Thomas Beyer holds a PhD in Physics and is co-developer of combined PET/CT imaging systems. He has a background in research and project management in academia and imaging industry. Thomas graduated in Physics from the Leipzig University (Germany) and got his PhD in Medical Physics from Surrey University (UK). During his US-based studies he became involved in the development and clinical testing of the first PET/CT prototype (1992-2000) before joining Siemens/CTI PET Systems as an International PET/CT specialist. In 2002 he became a Research Associate in Nuclear Medicine and Radiology and PET/CT project manager at Essen University Hospital (Germany). In 2006 he became Teaching Professor (Priv.-Doz.) for Experimental Nuclear Medicine at Essen, and joined timaq medical imaging Inc, a Zurich-based Imaging CRO. In 2007 Thomas moved to Philips Medical Systems as International Manager Clinical Science Nuclear Medicine. In 2008 he set up a Zurich-based consulting company for expert advise in cross-modality imaging and applications. He is appointed full professor of Physics of Medical Imaging at the Medical University of Vienna from March 2013. Thomas is a member of various national and international Medicine organizations, a founding member of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) Physics Committee, the European Society of Hybrid Imaging (ESHI) and past Head of the New Technology working group at the Association of Imaging Producers and Equipment Suppliers (AIPES).

Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna