2014 Distinguished Investigators
The Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research is pleased to announce that 46 researchers have been selected to receive the Academy’s 2014 Distinguished Investigator Award. This prestigious honor recognizes individuals for their accomplishments in the field of medical imaging. The award recipients are listed below.














Dr. Jensen received his PhD in physics from Princeton University. After several years at the New York University School of Medicine, he joined the faculty of MUSC in 2011. He is currently Professor of Neuroscience and Interim Director of the Center for Biomedical Imaging. His research focuses on applications of MRI to neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and stroke.

Dr. Kundra is a Professor in the Department of Cancer Systems Imaging. Some of his contributions include demonstrating key signaling pathways used by platelet derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR) for chemotaxis (Nature, 1994). He created methods for imaging of gene expression using somatostatin-receptor-type 2-based reporters and demonstrated that a combination of functional and anatomic imaging can be used for quantifying such gene expression (Radiology, 2005). Dr. Kundra showed that the metastatic pattern can aide determining the site of the carcinoid primary (European Radiology, 2012). He has also showed that diffusion weighted imaging adds to the diagnostic capability of MR for prostate cancer.





Dr. Mathis’ landmark discovery of the selective in vivo beta-amyloid positron emission tomography imaging agent, Pittsburgh Compound-B (PiB), has transformed the approach to Alzheimer’s disease. PiB was shown to provide quantitative information on beta-amyloid deposits in humans. Dr. Mathis has subsequently done a multitude of additional studies to characterize beta-amyloid imaging, including one demonstrating an increased prevalence of deposition with age, even in the absence of symptoms. Currently, PiB has been used throughout the world and remains the gold standard for beta-amyloid imaging tracers.


Dr. Meyerhoff is a Professor in Residence in the Department of Radiology at the University of California, San Francisco and at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He is also Co-Director of the Treatment Research Center in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF. Dr. Meyerhoff completed his undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Westphälische Wilhelms Universität in Münster, Germany, and he obtained his PhD in Chemistry at Westphälische Wilhelms Universität, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship from the University of California, Berkeley Department of Chemistry. Dr. Meyerhoff’s research goal is to better understand the neurodegenerative processes associated with specific insults to the human brain and repair process after removal of these insults. At the VA, Dr. Meyerhoff studies insults exceedingly common in the brain of veterans with substance dependence (alcohol, cocaine, and nicotine), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Gulf War Syndrome, and HIV infection. As senior scientist at the CIND, he primarily uses 1H MR to study mechanisms of neurodegenerative insults and recovery from them under special consideration of behavioral and cognitive correlations as well as genetic determinants. Dr. Meyerhoff serves as Principal Investigator, Co-Principal Investigator, and Co-Investigator on numerous NIH- and DoD-funded research projects. Dr. Meyerhoff has published more than 120 peer-reviewed research articles, has written and co-authored about 15 book chapters and presented more than 250 abstracts at national and international scientific meetings.


Dr. Mountz is Director of Neuro-Nuclear Medicine at UPitt, as well as Chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and the Medical Director of PET Imaging and Director of Nuclear Medicine Research. Dr. Mountz has successfully led many research projects in brain and cancer imaging research as evidenced by the range of important publication listed in his curriculum vitae. Dr. Mountz currently or has been the principal investigator on four NIH funded grant applications and several corporate grant applications in addition to Society, foundation, and approximately 20 other intramural and extramural grant applications. He has published over 150 peer review manuscripts and over 20 book chapters and presented over 400 peer-reviewed presentations concerning results from these research endeavors.
















