RESTON, Va., January 11, 2006 -- Nancy M. Swanston, CNMT, PET, RT(N), has been named a top technologist in diagnostic imaging, based on patient care and outcomes, dedication, attitude, problem-solving abilities and industry interaction, in the first annual Medical Imaging Industry Top 10.

A member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Section (SNMTS), Swanston is supervisor of diagnostic imaging/positron emission tomography (PET) at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Swanston drafts protocols for nuclear medicine and PET procedures and oversees five PET systems at the facility, which serves around 50 patients daily and is one of the busiest PET centers in the country. She also designed the center's PET training program for technologists and manages a staff of 25 at the facility.

"It is an honor to be recognized by my peers, particularly in a profession focused on improving the quality of life of patients," said Swanston. "This is also an honor to our team in recognition of their efforts over the years," added the recently elected secretary/treasurer of SNM's PET Center of Excellence.
Nearly 16,000 Medical Imaging readers were asked to rank the industry's 10 best in 10 categories for the January issue's cover story, "The Best of the Best." Those categories include technologist; nuclear physicist/nuclear medicine researcher; association/trade show/CME event/imaging-related educational program; radiologist; radiology department within a hospital; freestanding imaging center/group; radiation oncologist/cancer research; cardiovascular imager/cath lab director; women's imaging specialist; and PACS/RIS/radiology administrator. Swanston, the SNMTS categorical chair for the society's 53rd Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif., and a member of SNM's Learning Center faculty, received nearly 16.5 percent of the top 10 votes. SNMTS member Paul E. Christian, CNMT, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Cyclotron Lab/PET Imaging in Salt Lake City, Utah, was named a runner-up in this category.

SNM's Annual Meeting was named as one of the top 10 association/trade show/CME event/imaging-related educational programs, based on the quality of continuing medical education, the event and members; quantity and availability of educational opportunities; member benefits; and outreach.

Eight of the top 10 nuclear physicists/nuclear medicine researchers are SNM members. Honorees include SNM President Peter S. Conti, professor of radiology, clinical pharmacy and biomedical engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Richard L. Wahl, M.D., Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Md.; H. William Strauss, M.D., Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York; Marcelo F. Di Carli, M.D., Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.; Dean F. Wong, M.D., Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.; Ernest V. Garcia, Ph.D., Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga.; Alexander Gottschalk, M.D., Michigan State University, East Lansing; and Mark Madsen, Ph.D., University of Iowa, Iowa City. Runners-up include David Bushnell, M.D., University of Iowa, Iowa City; Daniel S. Berman, M.D., Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, Calif.; Dennis M. Welch, M.D., LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Marie E. Lee, M.D., Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Wash.

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