OMB No. 0925-0001/0002 (Rev. 08/12 Approved Through 8/31/2015)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Provide the following information for the Senior/key personnel and other significant contributors.
Follow this format for each person. DO NOT EXCEED FIVE PAGES.
NAME: Phillip H. Kuo
eRA COMMONS USER NAME (credential, e.g., agency login): philliphkuo
POSITION TITLE: Professor for Departments of Medical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering
EDUCATION/TRAINING (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education, such as nursing, include postdoctoral training
and residency training if applicable. Add/delete rows as necessary.)
DEGREE
(if applicable)
Completion
Date
MM/YYYY
B.A.
05/1994
Chemistry
M.S.
05/1998
Molecular Physiology
and Biological Physics
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Charlottsville, Virginia
Ph.D.
05/1999
Molecular Physiology
and Biological Physics
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Charlottsville, Virginia
M.D.
05/2000
Medicine
UCLA Medical Center
Los Angeles, California
Residency
06/2003
Internal Medicine
Yale New Haven Hospital (New Haven, CT)
Fellowship
08/2004
Nuclear Medicine
Yale New Haven Hospital (New Haven, CT)
Residency
06/2008
Radiology Residency
INSTITUTION AND LOCATION
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Charlottsville, Virginia
FIELD OF STUDY
A. Personal Statement
I am a member of the Univeristy of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC). For many years, I have worked closely
with UACC members, Marty Pagel and Amanda Baker, to develop acidoCEST MRI for pre-clinical studies.
More recently, we have collaborated to develop clinical acidoCEST MRI, SAFARI “direct-CEST” MRI, and
QUESPOWR “reverse-CEST” MRI at the University of Arizona. My background as a clinical radiologist and
physician scientist provides me the experience to move forward this translational research. This has required
joint efforts to obtain approval from our institution’s IRB for clinical research; combined efforts to arrange for
commercial contrast agents from several companies; and many team meetings to organize the logistics and
protocols for performing clinical research studies that involve the injection of a contrast agent. For example
specifically, I am the principal investigator on the Institutional Review Board approved protocol for the use of
CEST on normal volunteers and patients. I look forward to helping my collaborators understand the intricacies
of the regulatory issues for clinical trials as well as the myriad other aspects for running a successful trial.
B. Positions and Honors
Positions and Employment
2004-2005
Clinical Instructor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine,
New Haven, CT
2005-2008
Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of
Medicine, New Haven, CT
2008-2010
Clinical Director of Breast Imaging and Associate Section Head of Nuclear Medicine, Southern
Arizona Veterans Administration Hospital, Tucson, AZ
2008-2010
2010-2014
2015-
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Section of Hematology-Oncology, University of
Arizona School of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona
Associate Professor, Departments of Medical Imaging, Medicine and Biomedical Engineering,
Section Chief of Nuclear Medicine and Director of PET/CT, Department of Medical Imaging,
University of Arizona School of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona
Professor with tenure, Departments of Medical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering,
Section Chief of Nuclear Medicine and Director of PET/CT, Department of Medical Imaging,
University of Arizona School of Medicine, Tucson, Arizona
Other Experience and Professional Memberships
2003
Diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine
2004
Diplomate of the American Board of Nuclear Medicine
2005
Member of the Radiological Society of North America
2006
Diplomate of the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology
2006
Advisory Panel to FDA on Association of Gadolinium-Based MRI Contrast with Nephrogenic
Systemic Fibrosis
2008
Diplomate of the American Board of Radiology
2008
Full Member of the Arizona Cancer Center
2008
Reviewer for American Journal of Roentgenology
2008
Reviewer for European Radiology
2009
Reviewer for Molecular Imaging and Biology
2009
Reviewer for Investigative Radiology
2008
Reviewer for Nature Medicine
2010
Member of the American Roentgen Ray Society
2010
Member of Medical Advisory Council to the Global Fibrosis Foundation
2011
Member of the Southwest Oncology Group (SWOG)
Honors
1990-1994
1994-2000
2000
2006
2008
2008
2009
2009
2010
2010
201220132013
2013
2013
2013
2013
Dean’s List Harvard University
Medical Scientist Training Program Fellowship (University of Virginia)
Society of Fellows, Representative for the School of Medicine (University of Virginia)
Award for Education Exhibit: Kuo PH and Weidhaas J. “Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron
Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (FDG-PET/CT) for the Optimization of Planning
of Radiation Therapy”, Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Chicago,
IL.
Cover article for Applied Radiology Aug 2008
Guest Editor for special issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology entitled
“Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis and MRI Contrast”
Medscape’s Top 10 Most Read Articles by Radiologists July 2009.
Medscape’s #1 full-text journal article read by radiologists July 2009. Kuo PH, Abu-Alfa A,
Bucala R, , Griffith J, Thompson K, Girardi M, Weinreb J, Cowper SE. MRI with Gadoliniumbased Contrast Agents in the Era of Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis: Review, Controversies,
and Suggested Protocols. Applied Radiology. April 2009, 38(4): 22-33.
Medical Advisory Council to the Global Fibrosis Foundation
Co-Director of Research Education for the Arizona Cancer Center
Steering Committee for Endocyte’s development of targeted folate receptor imaging
Instructor for the American College of Radiology PET/CT Course (Reston, VA)
SAM-CME Course Instructor for Dopamine Transporter Imaging at the Annual Meeting of the
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (Vancouver, Canada)
Course Instructor for Molecular Neuroimaging at the Annual Meeting of the American Roentgen
Ray Society (Washington, DC)
Member of expert panel for white paper on “Efficient and Effective Diagnosis of Parkinson’s
Disease: Guidance for Managed Care” (Miami, FL)
Plenary session talk at the AACR-SNMMI State-of-the-Art Molecular Imaging in Cancer Biology
and Therapy Joint Conference (San Diego, CA)
Primary sponsor for Capstone senior project in Engineering: Motion Correction for PET and
SPECT Using Wearable Sensors
20142014
2014
2014
2014
Instructor for the American College of Radiology PET/CT Course (Reston, VA)
Promotion to Full Professor with tenure
Grand Saguaro Award for Teaching of Medical Students
Featured lecturer at the Etarfolatide European Expert Faculty Meeting at the Old Stock
Exchange in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Lectured to over 30 nuclear medicine experts from
across Europe.
#1 and #5 Most-Cited Articles from last 2 years as of September 1, 2014 for Journal of Nuclear
Medicine Technology
C. Contribution to Science
1. Molecular Oncologic Imaging
My deep interest in oncology began during my internal medicine training at UCLA Medical Center. I had the
opportunity to work with incredible physician scientists during my months on oncology. I came to know firsthand the incredible successes and also the deep deficiencies in treatment. The next step in my career moved
my research interests and clinical practice to imaging and nuclear medicine. As a nuclear medicine physician
and radiologist, I learned to harness molecular imaging to improve cancer therapy. My experience with PET/CT
has motivated me to develop other imaging tools to guide the oncologist in the selection of proper therapies.
The many years of collaboration with Dr. Pagel to develop acidoCEST MRI for pre-clinical studies has now
moved from bench to bedside. With my extensive experience in clinical research trials, I have been excited to
lend my expertise to all facets of this process. I will continue to leverage my background as a clinical radiologist
and physician-scientist to ensure the successful implementation of CEST MRI into the clinic.
a. Chen LQ, Howison C, Jeffrey J, Robey I, Kuo PH and Pagel M: Evaluations of extracellular pH within in
vivo tumors using acidoCEST MRI. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2014, 72(5): 1408-17. PMCID:
PMC Journal in process.
b. Kuo PH, Nauman RW, Symanowski J, Nguyen B, Harb W and Edelman MJ: 99mTc-etarfolatide (EC20)
SPECT imaging for the identification of ovarian and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who
are most likely to benefit from folate-receptor targeted agent vintafolide (EC145). Journal of Nuclear
Medicine, February 2013; 54(2S): 14. PMCID: PMC Journal in process.
c. Kuo PH, Thompson K, Christensen I, Girardi M, and Heald PW. (Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron
Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography) FDG-PET/CT for the Evaluation of Response to
Therapy of Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma to Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid in a Phase II Trial.
Molecular Imaging and Biology. Nov-Dec 2008, 10(6):306-14.
d. Kuo PH, McClennan BL, Thompson K, Wilson LD, Edelson RL, Heald PW, and Girardi M. (2008) FDGPET/CT in the Evaluation of Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma. Molecular Imaging and Biology. 10(2): 7481.
2. Contrast Agent Safety and Utilization
Earlier in my career, I published heavily in molecular imaging with special interests in contrast agents and
imaging for dermatology. In 2006, the fusion of these interests placed me at the forefront of a crucial matter of
safety. The revelation that gadolinium chelates used as MRI contrast cause a devastating systemic fibrosis
shocked the medical community. For the next two years, my colleagues and I successfully labored through
publications, education and policy development to virtually eradicate this disease, Nephrogenic Systemic
Fibrosis (NSF). With my background in basic science, I was also a thought leader on the molecular pathology
of the disease. I continue to utilize the lessons from this medical tragedy to wisely develop clinical research
protocols.
a. Kuo PH. ‘NSF-active’ and ‘NSF-inert’ Species of Gadolinium: Mechanistic and Clinical Implications.
American Journal of Roentgenology. 2008, 191(6):1861-3. PMCID: PMC Journal in process.
b. Kuo PH, Abu-Alfa A, Bucala R, Griffith J, Thompson K, Girardi M, Weinreb J, Cowper SE. MRI with
Gadolinium-based Contrast Agents in the Era of Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis: Review,
Controversies, and Suggested Protocols. Applied Radiology. April 2009, 38(4): 22-33.
c. Kuo PH, Kanal E, Abu-Alfa A, and Cowper S. (2007) Gadolinium-Based MRI Contrast Agents and
Nephrogenic Systemic Fibrosis. Radiology 242(3): 647-9.
d. Kuo PH. Gadolinium-containing MRI Contrast Agents: Important Variations on a Theme. Journal of the
American College of Radiology, 2008, 5 (1): 29-35. (Also Guest Editor for the issue).
3. Molecular Brain Imaging
As junior faculty at Yale, I collaborated with Dr. George Zubal in PET and SPECT brain imaging for epilepsy.
My move to the University of Arizona provided me the opportunity as Chief of Nuclear Medicine to launch a
thriving molecular neuroimaging program. With my colleagues in the movement disorder specialty clinic, we
have built one of the most successful dopamine transporter imaging programs in the country. University of
Arizona was the first site in our region to perform commercial PET amyloid imaging. I am privileged to work
with neurologists and PhD researchers who understand and appreciate the value of imaging in aging and
Alzheimer’s disease. This clinical success led to a research program that renewed my collaboration with Dr.
Zubal. Together again, we have produced peer-reviewed publications optimizing and validating Dr. Zubal’s
automated software analysis, Objective Striatal Analysis for Parkinson's disease (OSA). As a reader for
multiple clinical trials of amyloid imaging, I have interpreted thousands of PET amyloid scans and therefore can
be considered one of the most expert readers in the world. Dr. Zubal and I additionally extended our
collaboration to amyloid imaging with an NIH STTR grant. In both academia and industry, I am recognized as a
leader and speaker on both dopamine transporter and amyloid imaging.
a. Kuo PH, Avery R, Krupinski EA, Lei H, Bauer A, Sherman S, McMillan N, Seibyl J, Zubal G. ReceiverOperator-Characteristic Analysis of an Automated Program for Analyzing Striatal Uptake of 123IIoflupane SPECT images: Calibration Using Visual Reads, Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology;
2013; 41:26-31. PMCID: PMC Journal in process.
b. Kuo PH, Avery R, Lei H, Sherman S, Krupinski E, Bauer A, Seibyl J, Zubal G: Evaluation of an
Objective Striatal Analysis program for determining laterality in uptake of DaTscan SPECT images:
Comparison to clinical symptoms and to visual reads. J Nucl Med Technol. 2014 Mar 13; 42(2):105-1.
PMCID: PMC Journal in process.
c. Cummings JL, Fine MJ, Grachev ID, Jarecke CR, Johnson MK, Kuo PH, Schaecher KL, Oberdorf JA,
Rezak M, Riley DE and Truong D. Effective and efficient diagnosis of parkinsonism: the role of
dopamine transporter SPECT imaging with ioflupane I-123 injection (DaTscan™). Am J Manag Care;
2014; 20(5 Suppl): S97-109. PMCID: PMC Journal in process.
D. Research Support
Ongoing
5R01CA167183
(Pagel, PI)
04/01/12-02/28/16
NIH/NCI
Measuring Extracellular pH in Pre-clinical Tumor Models with CEST MRI
This proposal will develop CEST agents and improve CEST MRI methods that detect enzyme activities in preclinical cancer models.
Role: Co-investigator
5R01CA169774-01
(Pagel, PI)
07/01/12-05/31/17
NIH/NCI
Detection of in vivo Enzyme Sctivities with CEST MRI
This proposal will develop CEST agents and improve CEST MRI methods that detect enzyme activities in preclinical cancer models.
Role: Co-investigator
Completed
No Grant #
(Persky, PI)
01/01/15 - 06/30/15
American Chemical Society
Exploring the Feasibility of AcidoCEST MRI to Investigate the Lymphoma Microenvironment
The proposed research applies our clinical acidoCEST MRI method to evaluate the extracellular pH in solid
tumors to improve the diagnosis and early assessments of chemotherapies in patients with lymphoma.
Role: Co-investigator
5R42NS055475
(Kuo, PI)
09/01/13 – 08/31/15
NIH/NINDS
Computational Tools for Research in Neuroscience, Behavioral Science and Mental Health.
Terminated early due to primary awardee's Small Business restructuring.
Role: Sub-Award Principal Investigator