Todd Peterson, PhD, associate professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, has been appointed director of the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS) Radiochemistry Core Lab, following the departure of Michael Nickels, PhD.
In this role, Peterson will be the primary point of contact for faculty interested in developing or using radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging. He will direct Core Lab staff and be responsible for all aspects of managing its resources, making him the main scientific contact for developing new molecular probes for use with positron emission tomography (PET).
The mission of the Core Lab, which is housed in the VUMC PET Center in the Robinson Research Building, is to assist Vanderbilt investigators in developing and translating radiopharmaceuticals to patients, non-invasively visualizing and quantifying molecular events in preclinical in vivo models and patients, and conducting clinical trials that feature molecular imaging endpoints.
Peterson joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2003 and has served as the director of Nuclear Imaging for VUIIS since that time, overseeing small-animal PET and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in addition to PET studies in the Human Imaging Core. He serves as the chair of the publications committee of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) and is a past president of the SNMMI Center for Molecular Imaging Innovation and Translation. He is a current board member of the SNMMI PET Center of Excellence.
