SNMMI Announces Inaugural Mars Shot Research Award Winners

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Mars Shot Research Fund recently announced the first recipients of the organization’s Mars Shot Fund Awards. These grants recognize individuals who have made transformative impact in the field and elevated the value of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. 

• Paul Ellison, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison (principal investigator); Peter J. H. Scott, PhD, associate professor of radiology at the University of Michigan (co-principal investigator); and Melanie S. Sanford, PhD, professor of chemistry, University of Michigan (co-principal investigator) were selected as the recipients of a $500,000 grant for their proposal, “Modernizing radiobromine: improved radiohalogenation methodologies for translating ^76/77Br theranostics.”
• Amir Iravani, MD, associate professor of radiology in the Department of Radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington, was selected as the recipient of a $1,000,000 grant based on his proposal, “Phase II trial of biomarker-modulated PSMA Theranostics.”
• Craig Levin, PhD, professor of radiology, physics, electrical engineering and bioengineering at Stanford University in Stanford, California, was selected as the recipient of a $500,000 grant based on his proposal, “High-sensitivity imaging of multiple breast cancer biomarkers in a single PET/MRI imaging session.”
  
  
• Julie Sutcliffe, PhD, professor of internal medicine and biomedical engineering, University of California–Davis, was selected as the recipient of a $500,000 grant for her proposal, “Evaluating the integrin α_vβ₆-targeted molecular imaging agent [⁶⁸Ga]Ga DOTA-5G as a diagnostic for lobular breast cancer.”
  
  
• Randy Yeh, MD, a radiologist and nuclear medicine physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and assistant professor of radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, was selected as the recipient of a $500,000 grant based on his proposal, “HER2 PET Imaging to Assess HER2 Heterogeneity and Predict Response to Trastuzumab-Deruxtecan in HER2-low Breast Cancer.”

These grants were awarded in the inaugural year of the new SNMMI Mars Shot Research Fund, which was established to provide resources that translate visionary nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy and data science research or projects into tools or treatments that will help improve the lives of patients.

The Mars Shot for Nuclear Medicine, Molecular Imaging, and Molecularly Targeted Radiopharmaceutical Therapy is a forward-looking glimpse into the future of nuclear medicine. Its goal is to provide resources for the translation of visionary nuclear medicine imaging, radiopharmaceutical therapy, and data science research or projects into tools or treatments helping improve the lives of patients.