From the December 2014 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine

Phelps’ innovations have changed the face of radiology. He invented the PET scanner and, with colleagues, developed a miniaturized preclinical PET scanner, microPET. He led a national effort to gain FDA approval and reimbursement for PET molecular imaging diagnostics. The efforts resulted in federal and private insurance coverage for PET in cancer and in Alzheimer, Parkinson, epilepsy, and cardiovascular disease. He has published 780 peer-reviewed scientific articles and four textbooks. He chaired the 1983 Nobel Symposium in Stockholm and presented the American College of Physicians keynote address at the 2007 Nobel Symposium.

He was one of the three founders and a member of the board of directors of CTI Molecular Imaging. He is a cofounder and chair of the board of Momentum Biosciences, LLC (MoM). He is also one of the founders and the board chair of Sofie Biosciences, an MoM company.


Jean I. Widger Distinguished Author Award
The award honors the best peer-reviewed articles published in ASRT’s scientific journals. The award is named after longtime Radiologic Technology editor Jean I. Widger. There were two recipients this year.


Nancy G. Hawking, Ed.D., R.T.(R), and Ted D. Sharp, B.S.I.S., R.T.(R), are the winners of the Widger award for their article “Decreasing Radiation Exposure on Pediatric Portable Chest Radiographs,” which was published in the September/October 2013 issue of Radiologic Technology.

Hawking is the executive director of imaging sciences for the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith. She has nine years of clinical practice experience and 19 years of teaching experience. Sharp is a staff radiologic technologist for Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. He has more than 11 years of clinical experience.

Their study sought to determine whether additional shielding designed for pediatric patients would significantly decrease the amount of scatter radiation during portable chest examsused to assess endotracheal tube placement. They found that using the lead shielding device along with appropriate collimation resulted in more than a 20 percent decrease in scatter radiation compared with using appropriate collimation alone. These results suggest that applying additional shielding to appropriately collimated chest radiographs could significantly reduce scatter radiation and therefore reduce the overall dose to young children.

December 2014 Magazine

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