The Society of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) has designated BC Cancer – Vancouver as a Comprehensive Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence, the first Canadian centre to receive this honour.
BC Cancer – Vancouver's Functional Imaging team is made up of a talented group of physicians, physicists, radiochemists and technologists. The team is in charge of all the aspects of diagnostic imaging with PET; from radiopharmaceutical production, to generating quantitative diagnostic images and interpreting them. The team also administers radiopharmaceutical therapies (RPTs) and is active in RPT research.
"Being designated as an SNMMI Comprehensive Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence is a remarkable achievement and a reflection of the expertise, hard work and dedication of our team," said Dr. Don Wilson, medical director for the Functional Imaging program at BC Cancer. "Our inspiration is our patients, and we are committed to delivering the highest quality patient-centered care and research to improve outcomes for oncology patients in B.C."
"It is gratifying to see us reaching this milestone at 15 years of research in molecular imaging and therapy at BC Cancer," said Dr. François Bénard, distinguished scientist and senior executive director, research at BC Cancer. "I'm very proud of all the team for securing this recognition."
Dr. Carlos Uribe, leader, clinical nuclear medicine physics at functional imaging and an associate scientist in the department of Integrative Oncology at the BC Cancer Research Institute (BCCRI) was recently named "One to Watch" for 2022 by the SNMMI, and led the process to obtain the new designation on behalf of the Functional Imaging department.
"Being a Comprehensive Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence is a great accomplishment for the whole team involved in making it happen," said Dr. Uribe. "It does come with some responsibilities as we ensure that staff participate in quality improvement projects, continuing medical education, create lectures to educate our patients, publish research related to RPT, and keep contributing in RPT clinical trials. I am thankful to the staff of the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Vancouver General Hospital who have been our partners performing SPECT imaging for the therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals. I hope all these efforts get reflected in better therapies and outcomes for our patients."
The goal of SNMMI's Comprehensive Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence program is to ensure patients have reliable access to high quality radiopharmaceutical therapy, well-integrated into their pathway of care. Further, the program is to ensure that therapy is delivered by highly qualified therapy teams at technically qualified sites and led by physicians appropriately trained in nuclear medicine acting as the patient's "nuclear oncologist."
Congratulations to the Functional Imaging team at BC Cancer – Vancouver on this exciting designation!
The Functional Imaging leadership team with physicians, physicists, chemists, technologists, radiopharmacy and administration staff.
The Radiopharmacy and Radiation Safety team at BC Cancer.
The team of BC Cancer and Vancouver General Hospital nuclear medicine technologists involved in radiopharmaceutical therapy administration and imaging.
