Siegel receives Cassen Prize

Siegel

Barry Siegel, MD, professor of radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was awarded the Benedict Cassen Prize for Research in Nuclear Medicine during the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. The meeting was June 7-11 in St. Louis.

The Education and Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging bestows the honor — its most prestigious award — once every two years to a researcher whose work has led to major advances in basic research or clinical medicine. The foundation cited Siegel’s groundbreaking use of positron emission tomography (PET) scans to enhance cancer diagnosis and care and to analyze the results of clinical trials.

“I am truly honored by this award,” said Siegel, who also is a professor of medicine and director of the Division of Nuclear Medicine at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology. “It’s gratifying to know that my efforts, in collaboration with so many colleagues at Washington University and other institutions, have helped to achieve broader recognition of the utility of PET in clinical practice.”

Siegel has been with Washington University for 52 years, having matriculated as an undergraduate in 1962, earned his medical degree in 1969, and then remained at the university’s Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology for his residency and fellowship. He joined the faculty in 1973.

His current research focuses on the applications of PET for monitoring and predicting tumor response to treatment, as well as incorporation of imaging biomarkers into multicenter clinical trials.