Benzinger, Schindler Receive High Honors from SNMMI
Two physician-scientists from WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) were honored with prestigious awards from the Society for Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) in recognition of their dedication and commitment to imaging science.
Tammie L.S. Benzinger, MD, PhD, the Hugh Monroe Wilson Professor of Radiology, received the SNMMI Brain Imaging Council’s highest honor, the Kuhl-Lassen Award. The award honors scientists who have made outstanding contributions to the functional brain imaging discipline and whose research is of the highest caliber. Benzinger delivered the lecture “Molecular Imaging at the Crossroads: Amyloid, Tau, and the Path to Targeted Neuro-Theranostics” upon accepting her award.
Benzinger is a principal investigator in the Neuroimaging Labs Research Center who studies Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment, autosomal dominant Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. She uses PET and MRI imaging to investigate biomarkers she believes will become significant tools in detecting and diagnosing degenerative brain diseases before symptoms occur. Her work has led to new ways to track Alzheimer’s indicators and predict risk for the disease using MRI scanning. She is also the chief of MRI service for MIR.
Thomas H. Schindler, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology in the nuclear medicine division, was bestowed the Heinrich R. Schelbert Excellence in Education Award. Granted by the SNMMI Cardiovascular Council, the award recognizes sustained excellence in nuclear cardiology education, mentorship and service. He delivered the lecture “Non-Invasive Assessment of Coronary Pathophysiology with PET”.
Schindler is a decorated cardiovascular imaging educator who studies risk factors that lead to coronary artery disease and heart attack. He leads several cardiac imaging courses a year for clinicians and serves as program director for the nuclear cardiology fellowship. His research focuses on the detection and characterization of obstructive coronary artery disease, circulatory dysfunction and scarring in the tissues of the heart that results in a condition called cardiac sarcoidosis. Schindler currently serves as the editor-in-chief of The International Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging and previously received the SNMMI Presidential Distinguished Educator Award in 2020 and the Hermann Blumgart Award for Cardiovascular Imaging in 2018.
Benzinger and Schindler accepted their awards during SNMMI’s annual meeting in Los Angeles, May 30 to June 2.
