Serving as the largest international forum for cutting edge research designed to speed the discovery of more and better treatments for cancer and other diseases, the World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) held its ninth annual congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 13-16, 2017. The theme of the World Molecular Imaging Congress (WMIC) 2017 was ‘IMAGinING the Future: From Molecules to Medicine,’ and highlighted new discoveries in molecular imaging with 247 oral presentations, 551 poster presentations and over 1,200 attendees from world-renowned institutions from around the globe with keynote sessions on precision medicine and co-clinical trials.
View the recorded presentations from WMIC 2017 here, which are available as a part of WMIS membership.
| Gold Medal Award |
 The WMIC 2017 Gold Medal Award was presented to Dr. Zaver Bhujwalla, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her Gold Medal Lecture highlighted her work in molecular imaging and theranostics of the tumor microenvironment. |
| Young Investigator Award |
 WMIS proudly recognizes the outstanding commitment to research and endeavors of the next generation of researchers with the presentation of the 2017 Young Investigator Award to Patrick McCormick, Ph.D., University College London, at WMIC 2017 in Philadelphia. Honoring distinction in his work based on the quality of the science, the clarity of presentation and the ability to answer questions about the abstract, Dr. McCormick was presented the Young Investigator Award for his work titled “Evaluation of (4S)-4-(3-[18F]fluoropropyl)-L-glutamate ([18F]FSPG) for Measurement of Intracellular Redox Status using Positron Emission Tomography.” |
| Young Investigator Runner-Up Awards |
 Pictured with Patrick McCormick, Ph.D., University College London, who received the Young Investigator of the Year Award, are the two other finalists Suchismita Mohanty, PhD, Stanford University, and Zhi Wei Tay, University of California, Berkeley. Mohanty was recognized for her work, “A novel theranostic strategy for MMP-14 expressing glioblastomas impacts survival.” Tay was recognized for his work, “Eight-fold Improvement in Magnetic Particle Imaging Resolution with Pulsed Drive Waveforms.” |
| Commercial Innovation of the Year Award |
 WMIS presented the Commercial Innovation of the Year Award to Sofie Biosciences for their work, “GNEXT a Sub-millimeter Resolution and High Sensitivity PET/CT Scanner with DOI.” The award winner was chosen based on votes from WMIC attendees. Mohammed Farhoud presented the work at WMIC and it was submitted by Nam Vu. |
| WIMIN Scholar Award Winners |
 The Women in Molecular Imaging Network (WIMIN) Interest Group continues its emphasis on recognizing work of high merit through the WIMIN Scholar Awards. At WMIC 2017, the WIMIN Interest Group awarded 15 WIMIN Scholar Awards. Those receiving the awards were: Suchismita Mohanty, Xin Zhang, Riikka Siitonen, Kyungmin Kim, Sophie Poty, Louise Kiru, Nynke van den Berg, Inga Fricke, Yang Du, Kelly Henry, Elizabeth Herbst, Clarissa Cooley, Elaine Yu, Nutte Teraphongphom, and Marta Overchuk. |
| Poster Award Winners |
 The WMIS continues its emphasis on recognizing work of high merit through poster awards. Chosen from among the abstract submissions that are accepted as posters and based upon the abstract grade and ranking, the winners are: Daniel Hensley, Eric Richard, Hui Wang, Elaine Yu, Xinyi Zhou, Yuancheng Yu, Emily Johnson, Xiaowei Wang and Bastian Zinnhardt. Pictured with Sam Gambhir and Jan Grimm. |
| Molecular Imaging and Biology Award |
 Molecular Imaging and Biology recognized the work of high merit in both the area of preclinical and clinical papers and presented awards to:
Best Preclinical Paper: Hoon Hyun for his work, “700-nm Zwitterionic Near-Infrared Fluorophores for Dual-Channel Image-Guided Surgery” |
| Exhibitor Selected Posters |
 Exhibitors offered awards to recognize innovative science research by young investigators.
Bruker: Chia-Hao Su LI-COR: Nutte Teraphongphom, Xiaochun Xu, Haruka Yamaguchi Magnetic Insight: Kannan Krishnan PerkinElmer: Sakib Elahi FUJIFILM VisualSonics: Cheng Liu, Jennifer Wischhusen |
| Presentations from WMIC 2017 |
 The WMIC meeting included 247 oral presentations including plenary, educational and informative sessions as well as 551 poster presentations from world-renowned institutions from around the globe with keynote sessions on precision medicine and co-clinical trials.
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| This is Our Lab |
The 3rd annual “This is Our Lab” campaign came with a new twist – the competition this year was a WMIC-wide scavenger hunt! Every day at WMIC, attendees could compete in the scavenger hunt via the GooseChase app for a chance to win an in-depth video exclusive on their lab! Participants competed as individuals, but the entire lab of the winner benefits. The person with the most points at the end won. This year’s winner was Alejandro Arroyo from the Delikatny Lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Stay tuned for an in-depth video on the Delikatny Lab at Penn! |
| Photographs and Gala Event |
 The WMIC meeting concluded with an always memorable gala event at the National Constitution Center. The evening was filled with mystical illusions – magicians, acrobats and dancing. View photos from the gala and from the WMIC meeting below.
View the photos from the meeting. View the Gala photos. |