* Kaijun Zhang, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pa., "PET Molecular Imaging of Prostate Cancer by Targeting VPAC1 Receptors."

The prestigious Mark Tetalman Award was presented to Matthew A. Kupinski, an assistant professor in both the College of Optical Sciences and the Department of Radiology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, during the society's 54th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

The $5,000 Mark Tetalman Award honors the work of a young investigator who is pursuing a career in molecular imaging and nuclear medicine. The biennial award is based in part on submitting a paper supporting current research efforts as well as research accomplishments, teaching, clinical service and administration. It is named in memory of a highly respected and productive clinician and researcher.
"It is a great honor to be recognized by SNM and receive this award for my work," noted Kupinski, whose research interests include task-based assessment of image quality for both tumor detection and parameter estimation tasks, understanding the statistical characteristics of images and objects being imaged, imaging hardware optimization and human-observer models for image analysis. Kupinski, who expressed appreciation to colleagues Harrison H. Barrett and Eric Clarkson, received his doctorate in medical physics from the University of Chicago in Illinois in 2000 and his bachelor's degree in physics from Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, in 1995. He did his postdoctoral research in image quality at the University of Arizona from 2000-02.

The society also announced the recipients of $3,000 fellowships, which support students' full-time participation in clinical and basic research activities in molecular imaging/nuclear medicine. The top three candidates are designated as Bradley-Alavi Fellows, named by donors Jane and Abass Alavi in honor of Stanley E. Bradley, a professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York until 1978 and a prominent researcher in the fields of renal physiology and liver disease.

The Bradley-Alavi Fellows are

* Ricky Tong and Andrew Hsu, both at Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and
* Christopher Kim, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pa. SNM's student fellowship program is open to students enrolled in medical, pharmacy or graduate school and undergraduates who demonstrate outstanding competence in the physical and/or biological aspects of radioactive tracers. Student fellowships were awarded to