Sung-Cheng (Henry) Huang, D.Sc., a pioneer in the development of positron emission tomography (PET), was awarded the 2010 Benedict Cassen Prize during the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM), Inc.'s 57thAnnual Meeting held in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Huang, a professor in the departments of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Biomathematics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA , received the award for his work in instrumentation and quantitative analysis in biomedical imaging.
The Cassen Prize is given every two years by the Education and Research Foundation for the Society of Nuclear Medicine, Inc., to a living scientist or physician/scientist whose work has led to a major advance in basic or clinical nuclear medicine science.
Huang, who has been at UCLA since 1976, has constantly advocated biomedical imaging as a rigorous measurement tool and science. His collaborative work with biologists and physicians to demonstrate the value of quantitative biomedical imaging has led to several important advances in understanding the biological changes associated with many diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and neurological conditions.
"Dr. Huang has really laid the groundwork for a lot of the science we use today," said Dr. Michael M. Graham, 2009-2010 president of SNM. "He is a valuable member of the scientific and medical community, and we are honored to recognize him for his many contributions to nuclear medicine."