IEEE Medal for Innovations in Healthcare Technology Recipients

2011 - Harrison H. Barrett

Considered one of the top imaging scientists in the world for his knowledge of the underlying physics and mathematics of biomedical imaging, Harrison H. Barrett has broadly impacted the field with contributions to instrumentation, reconstruction algorithms, and image quality assessment. He has provided a rigorous theoretical basis and clearly defined experimental and computational paradigms for the assessment and optimization of image quality. His work led to improved understanding of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging, which uses gamma rays to provide three-dimensional imaging of the brain, tumors, and bone. Dr. Barrett’s research on image quality assessment has revolutionized how medical imaging systems are evaluated. He implemented numerical observers that allow a computer to analyze images instead of using human observers, overcoming what can be a lengthy process. Quantitative image quality assessment is now a requirement for practically all biomedical imaging. As early as 1972, he published some of the first results on using coded apertures for high-resolution tomographic imaging in nuclear medicine. During the 1980s and 1990s, he developed methods to improve the resolution-sensitivity trade-off in SPECT systems. He developed a stationary hemispherical SPECT system for human brain imaging and the FastSPECT and FastSPECT II systems for fast dynamic imaging in small animals. Recent developments include semiconductor arrays for high-resolution gamma-ray imaging. He co-founded the University of Arizona Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging in 1998.

An IEEE Fellow, Dr. Barrett is currently Regents Professor and director of the Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

2010 - Ronald Nutt and David Townsend

The creation of the hybrid positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scanner by Ronald Nutt and David W. Townsend revolutionized diagnostic medical imaging and has enabled earlier detection of cancer and better monitoring of treatment efficacy. Introduced in 1999, the PET/CT scanner incorporates the individual strengths of existing CT and PET technology while overcoming their respective stand-alone limitations. The hybrid PET/CT scanner provides precise spatial registration of anatomy and function in a single diagnostic imaging examination. The original idea for the PET/CT scanner came when Drs. Nutt and Townsend, while working together on a PET scanner design, recognized the opportunity for integrating CT components into the gantry of an existing PET design. Dr. Townsend led the academic efforts to develop PET/CT methods and conduct the first human studies using the scanner. Dr. Nutt was instrumental in building the first prototype PET/CT system as well as developing the first commercial versions. The PET/CT scanner was named “Medical Invention of the Year” in 2000 by Time magazine. The technology was quickly adopted by industry, with more than 95% of all PET scanners sold in 2004 being PET/CT scanners. By 2006, practically all stand-alone PET scanners had been replaced by PET/CT scanners.          

Dr. Nutt also was the co-developer and inventor of the gamma-ray detector known as the “block” detector that has been standard in PET for the past 20 years. An IEEE Fellow, he is currently the chairman of the Board of Advanced Biomarker Technologies, Knoxville , Tenn.

Dr. Townsend is considered the leading authority on hybrid imaging systems as well as one of the pioneers of three-dimensional PET and its required reconstruction algorithms. An IEEE Fellow, he is currently head of PET and SPECT development for the Singapore Bio-imaging Consortium under the Agency for Science, Technology and Research and Professor of Radiology, National University of Singapore.
 

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