by
Gus Iversen, Editor in Chief | December 03, 2025
UCLA Health will formally establish a new Department of Nuclear Medicine and Theranostics on January 1, 2026, becoming the first health system in the U.S. to create an independent department focused exclusively on molecular imaging and targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy.
The department builds on over a decade of research and clinical practice led by the Ahmanson Translational Theranostics Division within the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology. It will unify a range of services and research efforts, including nuclear medicine clinics, a theranostics outpatient program, a biomedical cyclotron, radiochemistry operations and clinical research infrastructure.
Dr. Johannes Czernin, appointed acting chair, said the move reflects the growing role of precision imaging and therapy across clinical disciplines. “Nuclear medicine is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by advances in imaging technology and the development of novel radiopharmaceuticals that allow us to visualize and treat disease with unprecedented precision,” Czernin said.
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The Los Angeles-based academic health system says the new department will expand clinical programs, develop training initiatives and foster collaboration with other UCLA entities including the David Geffen School of Medicine and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. The aim is to accelerate translational research and improve outcomes across cancer, neurological, cardiovascular, infectious and inflammatory diseases.
The work of UCLA physician-scientists has played a notable role in the development of PSMA PET imaging for prostate cancer, as well as the radiopharmaceutical therapy Pluvicto (lutetium-177 vipivotide tetraxetan). Clinical studies led by UCLA’s Dr. Jeremie Calais and others helped support FDA approval of both technologies, which are now widely used for prostate cancer management.
Staffing for the new department will include faculty, technologists, nurses, researchers, and trainees from the existing Ahmanson division. The reorganization is expected to strengthen UCLA’s clinical and research capacity in the growing field of theranostics.
Czernin called the new department “a future in which imaging and therapy converge to offer more precise and more personal care for every patient.”
