Deptt. of Nuclear Medicine, PGIMER shines at SNMICON2020 Wins most of the best scientific paper awards

he Department of Nuclear at PGIMER, Chandigarh accomplished
more milestones for PGIMER by winning most of the best scientific paper
awards at the 52nd Annual conference of SNM-India, SNMICON-2020 held
at AIIMS Raipur Chattisgarh from 11-13 December, 2020 in a hybrid
(virtual plus onsite) mode,” stated Prof. Baljinder Singh, President,
Society of Nuclear Medicine-India (SNM-India).
Dr. Ashwin Singh Parihar, MD received the Dr. N. Ramdas Gold Medal
2020, third time in a row, for the best paper in the Thyroidology
category. The best paper award in the Nuclear
Hepatology category went to Dr. Ankit. Dr.Tinu, presenting his thesis
research work done at PGIMER, Chandigarh received the best oral paper
presentation award in the Clinical category. Dr. Sarika got the best
paper award in the Basic Sciences category for her work on
intraoperative lymph nodes detection by gamma probe. Three more
students of Prof. Baljinder Singh and now on post-doctoral
positions in USA, Dr.Anchal Ghai (WUSTL, USA, Dr. Shalini Chopra
(UCSF) and Dr. Nisha (Harvard Medical) also won best paper
awards in other categories.
This conference was attended by more than 800 virtual national and
international delegates (with about 50 on-site delegates). This was a
landmark conference with over 25 international invited speakers including
the leaders of the world societies of Nuclear Medicine delivering excellent
and impressive talks in this meeting.The theme of the conference
was ‘Nuclear Medicine: Re-defining Precision Oncology.’The
prominent Indian speakers (about 30) from PGIMER, AIIMS, INMASDRDO, TATA hospitals and Radiation Medicine Centre also delivered talks
in this meeting.
Besides that, there was an enthusiastic participation from students and
young researchers from across the country with about 150 oral/poster
presentations. This Conference was perceived by many international and
national stalwarts of the field as a historical event, never witnessed
before. They anticipated that the deliberations of the meeting will
definitely change the management of the cancer patients with the focused
approach of precision oncology. Prof Richard Baum the President of
the International Academy of Precision Oncology attended this
meeting and in his plenary talk during the inaugural ceremony indicated
his desire to collaborate with the Department of Nuclear Medicine at
PGIMER, Chandigarh and other institutions in the country. Prof. Richard
Wahl, MD, the President-Elect, SNMMI, USA and the Director,
Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis delivered the inaugural
lecture on ‘Precision Imaging of the Cancer Phenome.’ Prof. Wahl is a
doyen in Nuclear Medicine and at the forefront of research, his name
being synonymous with the development of Radioimmunotherapy and
‘PERCIST criteria’ for response assessment. Other leading faculty in
Nuclear Medicine from the USA, UK and Europe participated actively in the
conference, sharing their valuable experiences.