SNMMI 2023 
Annual Meeting highlights

The SNMMI 2023 Annual Meeting welcomed nuclear medicine and molecular imaging experts from around the world to participate in a multitude of scientific, educational, and networking opportunities.

Beginning on June 24, the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2023 Annual Meeting welcomed physicians, technologists, scientists, and other medical professionals to McCormick Place, a large event center in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The meeting provided a wide range of topics representing the conference’s theme of “Eye on the Patient.” During the four day event, this hybrid conference hosted more than 2,500 virtual and 5,300 in-person attendees who experienced a comprehensive selection of presentations on recent developments, research, and clinical applications in the nuclear medicine and molecular imaging field. 

Participants had access to more than 130 continuing education and scientific sessions, along with categorical seminars, satellite symposia, and networking events. Theranostics and artificial intelligence were a few of the more popular topics. 

The annual meeting’s opening ceremony began with introductory remarks by SNMMI President Munir Ghesani, MD. This year’s highlight country was India and provided lively entertainment and food during the ceremony.

The event center contained more than 200 exhibitor booths. At this year’s Siemens Healthineers booth, visitors had the opportunity to learn more about Symbia Pro.specta™ SPECT/CT, experience Biograph Vision Quadra™, and see the newly launched Biograph Vision.X™ PET/CT. The booth also featured a section devoted to theranostics where visitors had access to a myriad of theranostic-focused content, including clinical images, case studies, a patient video, and articles, as well as an animation explaining theranostics. The booth also celebrated 10 years of groundbreaking technologies in molecular imaging with xSPECT™ and FlowMotion™.

Just across the aisle at PETNET Solutions’ booth, visitors listened intently to David Gauden, CEO of Blue Earth Diagnostics, as he introduced POSLUMA® (flotufolastat F 18) injection. POSLUMA, the newest FDA-approved PET imaging agent, is manufactured and distributed by PETNET Solutions, Inc, a Siemens Healthineers Company, through its agreement with Blue Earth Diagnostics Ltd. The rest of PETNET’s portfolio of targeted radiopharmaceutical agents for PET/CT imaging, the largest on the market today, was highlighted throughout the booth.

Each year during the annual conference, SNMMI announces the Henry N. Wagner, Jr., Image of the Year award to an image that best depicts advances in the field of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. This year’s award was given to a team of researchers led by Julie Sutcliffe, professor of internal medicine and biomedical engineering, from the University of California, Davis, California, USA. The images show a novel theranostic pair for pancreatic cancer.¹

This year’s annual meeting included satellite symposia covering a fascinating selection of topics. Siemens Healthineers was honored to host two luncheon symposia. On Monday, Joseph R. Osborne, MD, PhD, chief of the division of molecular imaging and therapeutics and professor of radiology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, USA, spoke to a captivated audience about his theranostics program and his current experience expanding access to next generation theranostics. This symposium continued with Alex Torres, CNMT, and Natasha Befrui, CNMT, nuclear medicine technologists at Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, USA, who presented “Putting the ‘Pro’ in SPECT/CT imaging” and shared their first-hand experience with Symbia Pro.specta SPECT/CT.

The SNMMI Annual Meeting’s highest-attended symposium this year was Siemens Healthineers luncheon on Tuesday entitled “Advancing patient care with total-body PET/CT.” Geoffrey B. Johnson, MD, PhD, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA, and Osama R. Mawlawi, PhD, professor of imaging physics and section chief of Nuclear Medicine Physics, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, shared their experiences to the standing-room only audience about using Biograph Vision Quadra PET/CT for total-body imaging in their research and clinical practices.

Save the date for SNMMI’s 2024Annual Conference which is planned from June 8-11, 2024, in Toronto, Canada.