2012 SNMMI Fall Board of Directors Meeting
SNMMI President Report
Fred Fahey, DSc.
September 22-23, 2012
The past three months have not only been busy, but they have been very exciting for the Society
of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). In early July, the SNMMI received final
word from the State of Washington that our name had officially been changed and that we could
now operate under SNMMI. While, for many, the organization had long been the SNMMI by
virtue of the expansion into molecular imaging many years ago, making it official, with the name
change, was cause for a tremendous celebration on behalf of the Leadership, Board of Directors,
and many of our members. The field as we knew it has changed and evolved and I am privileged
as the first president of the SNMMI to say that we evolved right along with it.
Over the next several months, we will continue to focus on the banner issues/priorities; new
agents, new technology, dose optimization, radioisotope therapy, and quality. In addition,
SNMMI will continue to expand its global outreach through the implementation of the Nuclear
Medicine Global Initiative and the execution of the international education strategic plan. I am
excited to report to you the outstanding progress that already has been made, in these short
months.
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Amyloid Imaging
Following the Annual Meeting, the SNMMI Leadership spoke, via conference call, with the
leadership from General Electric (GE), Avid/Lilly, Piramel and Navidea regarding a
Stakeholders Meeting for Amyloid Imaging. The feedback was very positive and SNMMI has
moved forward in scheduling the meeting for later this fall. SNMMI has made significant
progress in educating patients and physicians about amyloid imaging and plans to continue this
effort as new imaging tracers become available for clinical use. The agenda will focus on the
following areas, specific to amyloid imaging; education, outreach, research and advocacy
(SNMMI’s pillars issues). We hope that this discussion will assist SNMMI in focusing its efforts
for the future and bring together the stakeholders in the field to ensure the success of betaamyloid imaging.
With respect to new technologies, the Optical Imaging Task Force, chaired by Chris Contag of
Stanford University and me, met via conference call this summer. We discussed many initiatives
but one was to contact with the Optical Society of America (OSA) and explore how the two
organizations may form a partnership to combine the expertise of their membership in the basic
science of optical imaging with the SNMMI’s track record in the translation of new technologies
to the clinic. We made the offer of this partnership to the OSA on a conference call arranged by
Eva Sevick with their leadership last week and it was greeted very enthusiastically. We were
invited to participate in their Optical Molecular Probes Meeting in Hawaii next April. We, in
turn, agreed to involve the OSA in one of our sessions (Categorical Seminar or CE session) at
our Annual meeting in June. More excitingly, we have begun discussing a combined “incubator
meeting”, a mechanism they have for kick starting new initiatives. I am very excited at the
possibility that this partnership will further move the SNMMI’s reputation in this very exciting
and emerging arena.
Dose Optimization
As you may remember, the SNMMI Board of Directors approved the Dose Optimization
Position Statement that was released during the June meeting. The position statement
recognizes that the use of low levels of radiation in nuclear medicine procedures carries some
possible risk. However, if an appropriate procedure—one that can provide the physician with
clinical information essential to the patient's treatment—is not performed when necessary due to
fear of radiation, it can be detrimental to the patient. The society stresses that the "right test with
the right dose should be given to the right patient at the right time.
In addition, the Dose Optimization Task Force co-chaired by Adam Alessio and me, PhD has
assigned additional members and is working on a comprehensive plan, including; (1) the
development of a dose optimization microsite, (2) collaboration with the Intersocietal
Accreditation Commission to gather data (possibly through a survey) on administered doses and
(3) working with RAdiation Dose Assessment Resource (RADAR) Task Force to develop a
custom dose-related calculator.
Radioisotope Therapy
I am excited to announce that the SNMMI will be partnering with the National Cancer Institute
(NCI) on joint workshop entitled “NCI-SNMMI Workshop on Targeted Radionuclide
Therapy.” in 2013. During the Annual Meeting, the SNMMI Leadership met with
representatives from the NCI to discuss a unique opportunity. The workshop is scheduled for
March 18, 2013 – March 19, 2013 at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Bethesda,
Maryland. Katherine Zukotynski, MD, PET Center of Excellence Intern will be working with the
SNMMI Leadership and Jacek Capala, PhD from NCI to plan and execute the workshop.
While the SNMMI and NIH have partnered many times on various focused workshops, this is
the first collaboration of NCI and SNMMI. The purpose of the meeting is to stimulate
discussion on the current and potential application of TRT for treatment of hematologic and solid
types of cancer. This two-day symposium will bring together individuals from multiple scientific
disciplines utilizing a “brain-storming format. The proposed schedule would have lectures in the
morning followed by break-out sessions in the afternoon on the first day. The second day would
commence with presentations by the stakeholder representatives followed by summaries of the
key findings from the breakout sessions. The organizing committee would work during the final
day to develop the preliminary outline for the final report and begin assigning writing tasks to
break-out group members. The SNMMI and NCI will be inviting the following organizations to
participate in this workshop; American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM),
American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), American College of Radiology (ACR),
American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), Radiation Therapy Oncology
Group (RTOG), American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), North American
Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) and the Radiological Society of North American
(RSNA).
Global Outreach
Throughout the world, the SNMMI has worked over the years with various countries and
organizations to develop guidelines and educational opportunities. For example, the Society has
recently worked with the European Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM) on developing
collaborative practice guidelines. While these initiatives have been excellent, we would like to
expand our efforts to include a broader topic within the field across the entire planet. The
Nuclear Medicine Global Initiative will create a forum in which the nuclear medicine leaders
from around the world can discuss important issues that affect all nuclear medicine professionals
and work to a joint consensus or conclusion that will affect the field worldwide. Representatives
from ten international organizations have agreed to work together on this initiative. We hope to
have the first conference call in the next two weeks, followed by a kick-off meeting during the
EANM meeting in Italy in October.
The SNMMI has also developed a comprehensive international strategic plan that will provide
needed education to developing countries. The program will include international symposia and
fellowships, the dissemination of educational materials and the presentation of didactic programs
either online or in person. These didactic programs may include online net-learning modules,
webinars, face-to-face workshops or other educational events. The most appropriate approach
may depend on the demographics and resources in a particular geographic region. Most recently,
the SNMMI partnered with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to host a CT Case
webinar. The webinar was a huge success with 200 registrants from over 40 countries and 6
continents. SNMMI will be hosting additional webinars in the coming months. We hope that
successes, like that of the IAEA webinar, can continue through the implementation of the
international strategic plan.
Domestic Outreach and Collaboration
Earlier this year, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the SNMMI
decided to create a joint task force to assess the state of training and credentialing in the field of
nuclear medical physics, currently and in the future. The AAPM and SNMMI agreed that in the
next few years, it will be strongly recommended that qualified medical physicists be certified by
an appropriate organization. Some states are considering the licensure of medical physicists that
may require such certification. In 2014, the American Board of Radiology will require all those
sitting for their medical physics certification examination to have successfully completed a
medical physics residency in an approved program. This will be problematic for those
considering nuclear medical physics since there are very few residency programs in this field.
Beth Harkness, MS, will be serving as the chair of the task force which will include
representatives from SNMMI, AAPM, CAMPEP, ABSNM and ABR. The mission of this joint
task force is to assemble a representative group of stakeholders to:
1. estimate the demand for board-certified nuclear medicine physicists in the next 5-10
years,
2. identify the critical issues related to supplying an adequate number of physicists who
have received the appropriate level of training in nuclear medicine physics, and
3. Identify approaches that may be considered to facilitate the training of nuclear medicine
physicists.
The SNMMI is also continuing to support the Image Gently and Image Wisely campaigns in
their efforts to optimize the use of radiation when imaging pediatric and adult patients. Image
Gently with representation from SNMMI and the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric
Imaging will be meeting with their European colleagues at the EANM in Italy to work towards
consensus between the two groups, as well as hosting their annual meeting during the RSNA
meeting in November. In addition, the Image Wisely Nuclear Medicine Working Group with
representation from SNMMI, ASNC, AAPM, ACR, ARRT and RSNA, is finalizing the
development of content for the nuclear medicine section of the Image Wisely website so that it
can go live in time for the RSNA meeting in November
And, for the first time, the SNMMI was invited to attend and present at the United Pharmacy
Partners (UPPI) meeting. Perry Polsinelli, UPPI President, invited me to speak to the attendees
and provide an overview on what the SNMMI is and the recent (and future) activities. This is a
huge opportunity for the SNMMI in that it bridges the relationship between pharmacy groups
and the society. Although the SNMMI and UPPI have worked together for many years, some of
the pharmacy partners are not as familiar with the SNMMI. We are hopeful that this invitation
from UPPI will continue in the future.
The SNMMI has served on the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
(ACGME) Residency Review Committee (RRC). This year, the SNMMI has two vacancies. The
SNMMI has provided two names (per vacancy) in accordance with ACGME policies. The
Review Committee will select one of the nominees to recommend for confirmation by the
ACGME Board of Directors. The new member’s term will begin July 1, 2013. With the
exception of the resident member, Review Committee members will be appointed for a six-year
term. SNMMI was pleased to submit the following individuals for consideration; David H.
Lewis, MD, David Shelton, MD, Daniel Lee, MD and Dominique Delbeke, MD, PhD.
Outreach to Industry
The Molecular Imaging Industry Leaders Working Group (MIILWG) meeting has become a
tradition within the Annual Meeting. Each year, the SNMMI invites all of their molecular
imaging industry partners to meet and discuss the current status of the field. While in most cases,
the outcome of these meetings has not included any specific follow-up or direction, the 2012
meeting was different. This year, we asked for some direction and next steps from the
stakeholders. While many areas of interest were discussed (the minutes are included as
background to this report), the MIILWG agreed that we should focus on one area of interest and
do everything that SNMMI can to succeed in that area. The consensus from the group was to
focus on outreach to radiology benefits managers. Over the next several months, we will be
scheduling a conference call with the MIILWG to discuss next steps and identify specific tasks.
History Sub-committee
Over the past decade, the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging has lost many
extraordinary individuals. While the SNMMI has done its best to try to recognize these
individuals through the creation of various named awards, recognition at the plenary session and
on the website, it has become evident that SNMMI needs to develop a program that will allow
for these luminaries to be recognized for the tremendous contributions, long after their passing.
The SNMMI Leadership agreed to create a History Sub-committee, co-chaired by myself and
Naomi Alazraki, MD, SNMMI Historian, to discuss how these individuals could be recognized
and to develop a program for the future. The sub-committee, comprised of past presidents and
other distinguished members of the SNMMI, held its first conference call the end of August. It
was agreed that a policy should be created to determine who should be recognized and what
criteria should be reviewed to determine if they meet the policy. While the sub-committee is still
discussing this policy, members agreed that in most cases, individuals could be placed into one
of two categories for recognition; recognition based on service to the society and the field or
scientific contributions. Individuals recognized under the service category could have served in
any of the following capacities: society leadership, president, council presidents, journal editors,
ABNM chairs, RRC chairs or a collection of other things (numerous committee appointments,
panels, etc.). Individuals recognized under the scientific category could have been recipients of
the Abersold or de Hevesey Awards or, in other ways, made significant contributions to their
respective fields. In addition, a list of possible programs and opportunities to recognize these
individuals was developed (and is attached to this report as background).