Abass Alavi

In August 1976, he was part of the team that performed the first human PET studies of the brain and whole body using the radiotracer [18F]Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG).

In 1973, he—along with his colleagues Dr. Kuhl and Dr. Martin Reivich—were the first scientists to conceive the idea of labeling deoxyglucose with positron-emitting fluoride (F-18), leading to the development of FDG.

He was also among the first to utilize Iodine-123 in the diagnosis of thyroid cancer, MIBG in the assessment of pheochromocytoma, radiolabled WBCs in the evaluation of infection, and 99mTc in the detection of gastrointestinal bleeds, among a host of other discoveries.

In particular, the development of labeled 2-Fludeoxyglucose (18F) (2FDG) through the collaboration between scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory and investigators at the University of Pennsylvania, was a major factor in expanding the scope of PET imaging.

In 1999, after decades of research demonstrating the unique and versatile utility of PET and the functional data it provides, the modality was approved for reimbursement by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and rapidly became a cornerstone of the evaluation of a host of diseases, most notably cancers.

It is now well established that without the introduction of FDG to medicine, the field of molecular imaging with PET would have been confined to major research institutions, precluding its current widespread clinical applications.

The de Hevesy Award [1] from the Society of Nuclear Medicine was given to Alavi for his pioneering work in the development of positron emission tomography.

Bradley-Alavi Fellows are named in honor of the late Stanley E. Bradley, a professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and a prominent researcher in the fields of renal physiology and liver disease, and Abass Alavi, M.D., professor of radiology and chief of the division of nuclear medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.