6. Public and Professional Awareness
Despite its impact, nuclear medicine remains under-recognized compared to specialties like cardiology or oncology. Limited public, referrer, and policymaker awareness hinders referrals and funding opportunities. There is a major opportunity to invest in public outreach campaigns, referring physician education programs, and patient advocacy partnerships to highlight the life-saving potential of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging.

7. Education and Training Gaps

Medical school curricula and residency programs often do not adequately cover modern nuclear medicine, especially theranostics. There is also a pressing need for updated continuing education models to help existing practitioners keep pace with rapid advances. Encouragingly, the field is refreshing itself with new theranostics-focused residency pathways, interdisciplinary programs, and virtual learning platforms to expand global reach.

Each of these challenges presents real hurdles—but also exciting opportunities to ensure that nuclear medicine and molecular imaging continue to grow, evolve, and deliver transformative impact for patients worldwide.

HCB News: Are there any sessions or presentations at this year's meeting that you're particularly excited about?
JLU: The SNMMI Annual Meeting is one of the premier—if not the premier—worldwide events for nuclear medicine, gathering thousands of professionals from across the globe dedicated to presenting, educating on, and advancing the science and practice of nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics.

While the full agenda has not yet been finalized, based on the enormous success of past meetings and preliminary information, I'm excited about several sessions and presentations at this year's SNMMI 2025 Annual Meeting, scheduled for June 21–24 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Theranostics will continue to be a major focus, with sessions covering the latest advancements in targeted radionuclide therapies, clinical protocols and trials, and patient outcomes. These sessions will include discussions on new radiopharmaceuticals, combination therapies, and the most recent clinical applications of these novel agents in oncology, as well as emerging applications in neurology and cardiology.

Attendees should also expect presentations on medical isotope production and cutting-edge radiopharmaceutical developments, including novel tracers for oncology, cardiology, and neurology. These sessions will provide insights into how new compounds enhance diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic efficacy.

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