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Ronald Jaszczak |
In recognition of his pioneering work in nuclear medicine imaging, Ronald Jaszczak, PhD, received the 2000 Paul C. Aebersold Award at the Society of Nuclear Medicine annual meeting on June 4th in St. Louis, Mo. He is Professor of Radiology at Duke University Medical Center and Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University (Durham, NC). Dr. Jaszczak became an IEEE Fellow in 1993, and is currently the NPSS Nominating Committee Chair and Immediate Past President of NPSS.
The award that Professor Jaszczak received is named for pioneering nuclear physicist Paul C. Aebersold, who became known as "Mr. Isotope" during his career at Berkeley Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Aebersold was active in promoting the beneficial aspects of isotopes in the then emerging field of nuclear medicine. The Award recognizes individuals who, like Aebersold, have made contributions that reach beyond the boundaries of basic research and enhance the usefulness of nuclear medicine.
Dr. Jaszczak has made a number of important contributions to nuclear medicine, in particular to the development, characterization and understanding of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). During his career he has worked in academia, private industry, and with the federal government. After earning his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Florida he joined the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1968, first as a post doctroal fellow then as a staff physicist. In 1971 he joined Searle Diagnostics, Inc. where he remained until 1979 when he was appointed to Duke University. His work has led to over 250 publications and seven patents for scintillation cameras and other imaging devices. Dr. Jaszczak’s current research interests at Duke are directed toward investigating new approaches to improve quantitative SPECT imaging and toward the use of these improvements to address specific clinical imaging tasks.
Although honored to be chosen, Dr. Jaszczak is also mindful of the many deserving researchers in nuclear medicine. "I am well aware," he said, "that whatever small contributions I have been fortunate enough to have made to the field depended on the progress and contributions made by these outstanding investigators. I feel that, more appropriately, I should be referred to as simply the representative for a group of dedicated investigators who have made important contributions to the physics and engineering of nuclear medicine instrumentation and, in particular, SPECT." He also notes that much of the progress in the field would not have been possible without the ongoing support of government agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, as well as commitments made by corporations to invest in sometimes risky long-term research.
Ronald Jaszczak can be reached at the Duke University Medical Center, DUMC 3949, Durham, NC 27710; Phone: (919) 684-7685; Fax: (919) 684-7122; E-mail: rjj@dec3.mc.duke.edu .