PET scan inventor honored for achievements

Friday, February 26, 1999

PET scan inventor honored for achievements

RESEARCHER: Scientist gets award for improved methods in
technology

By Angela Sveda

Daily Bruin Contributor

President Clinton recently named UCLA’s Michael Phelps, inventor
of the positron emission tomography (PET) scan, as a recipient of
the prestigious Enrico Fermi Award, honoring a lifetime of
achievement in nuclear energy.

"It is a privilege to honor (such) scientists and their
pioneering research," Clinton said in a statement. "Dr. Phelps made
possible an innovative technology that has improved medical
research and health care."

The "innovative technology" that Phelps developed is the PET
scanner. This technology is used to diagnose diseases ranging from
cancer to cardiovascular and neurological disease.

"(It’s) an imaging technique that creates a picture of the
living human biology," Phelps said.

PET identifies biological changes before they become
structurally significant, and in some cases allows early diagnosis
of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease, said
Harvey Herschman, vice-chair of the Department of Molecular and
Medical Pharmacology.

"Dr. Phelps not only developed the original PET technology, but
also has consistently applied it in extremely novel ways to solve
important biological and medical problems, and continues to do so."
said Sanjiv Gambhir, head of the Bio-imaging Assay Laboratory at
UCLA.

Currently, Phelps and researchers are developing a "micro-PET"
to be used on mice.

"We can take human genes and put them in the mouse to produce a
genetically altered form of the mouse." said Phelps. The mouse then
receives PET scans like a human patient would to determine changes
in its biological functioning.

Phelps, 59, first developed the PET scanner in 1973 at
Washington State University in St. Louis. He then came to UCLA in
1976 and created the first PET clinic, and eventually the world’s
leading PET program. Now there are more than 800 such clinics
worldwide.

"There are so few people in the world that have had such a great
impact on the field of biological imaging (and) nuclear medicine,"
said Gambhir. "He has been relentless in pushing the field forward
and has made a phenomenal impact."

Phelps’ impact is also felt at UCLA. He brought together the new
department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology by recruiting
faculty in imaging, molecular biology, and pharmacology to bring
imaging science and molecular pharmacology together, added
Gambhir.

"Dr. Phelps has been a campus leader in bringing the biological,
medical and physical sciences together on this campus," said Alan
Fogelman, executive chair of the department of medicine.

In addition, Phelps formed the Crump Institute for Biological
Imaging, which sets the pace for the rest of the world in the
development and application of biological imaging tools, Herschman
said.

"This is a very prestigious honor that brings honor to Dr.
Phelps and UCLA," Fogelman said.

The Enrico Fermi Award, created in 1956, is named for the leader
of the scientists who achieved the first self-sustained, controlled
nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago in 1952.

Phelps received his doctorate in chemistry from the University
of Washington in St. Louis and went on to become a Norton Simon
professor.

At UCLA, Phelps is also the chair of Molecular and Medical
Pharmacology and director of the Crump Institute for Biological
Imaging, among other things.

"It is one of the many honors that Mike has won over the past
several years; one that is well-deserved and is likely to be the
forerunner of many additional awards and other forms of
recognition," Herschman concluded.

Clinton also named Maurice Goldhaber, the first person to
accurately measure the mass of the neutron, as another recipient of
the award.

Both men will receive a gold medallion and a $100,000 honorarium
from U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson in April.

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