Abass Alavi, MD, is a well-known figure and pioneer in nuclear medicine and the author of more than 800 peer-reviewed publications. He is the recipient of many awards and honors, among which are the Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award, which is the highest distinction in nuclear medicine presented by the Society of Nuclear Medicine; an honorary Doctor of Medicine degree bestowed by the University of Bologna; an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Shiraz; and an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.

Dr. Alavi was born in Tabriz, Iran, and received his medical degree from the University of Tehran in Tehran, Iran. He completed his residency in medicine in the United States at Albert Einstein Medical Center and Veteran Affair Hospital in Philadelphia and joined the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1971 as a research fellow in nuclear medicine under mentorship of David Kuhl, MD. At that time, tomographic imaging was very new, and Dr. Alavi had the opportunity to apply many novel methodologies, including the use of fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) to evaluate “cerebral glucose metabolism in the human brain; research performed in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. Drs. Alavi and Kuhl and Reivich were the first investigators to introduce the concept of labeling deoxyglucose with fluorine 18, and Dr. Alavi was the first to administer FDG-18 to a human subject in 1976 and to acquire tomographic images of the brain and planar scans of the entire human body. His group pioneered the use of FDG-18 in the study of various brain disorders and diseases such as dementia, stroke, glioma, schizophrenia, and brain trauma.

Dr. Alavi is also one of the most productive investigators of medical imaging. His extraordinary and creative research in conventional nuclear medicine, modern therapies, and positron emission tomography (PET) have been of immeasurable benefit to this specialty. He is considered a pioneer in introducing single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) as a research and clinical modality, and his work has helped to revolutionize nuclear medicine.

In addition to his research on brain disorders, Dr. Alavi has worked on many other fronts and has applied his knowledge of internal medicine to such varied subjects as skeletal disorders, sickle cell anemia, gastrointestinal bleeding, pulmonary embolism, thyroid disease, complications of the diabetic foot, malignancies, islet cell transplant, and inflammation. He has been a pioneer in investigating dopaminergic and other neuroreceptor systems with PET and SPECT over the past 3 decades. His groundbreaking research on children with hyperinsulinism has helped to substantially improve the management of that life-threatening disorder. Most recently, he has applied FDG-PET imaging techniques to the investigation of atherosclerosis and is very interested in the potential applications of those techniques to diagnosis and treatment.

Dr. Alavi currently holds appointments at the University of Pennsylvania as professor and director of research education in the Division of Nuclear Medicine, Department of Radiology. He is a devoted educator, and his former students and research fellows now hold leading positions in nuclear medicine worldwide. He has also been a longtime supporter of educational and research opportunities for students in nuclear medicine. He helped to establish the Alavi-Mandell Awards, which recognize trainees and young scientists who publish articles as senior authors in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, and his generosity supports pilot research grants as well as the Bradley-Alavi Student Fellowship Awards funded by the Education and Research Foundation of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.

We asked Dr. Alavi to tell us about his motivations for being so much involved in research and becoming a prominent figure in academic medicine. He replied:

I am just an ordinary individual who did all he could and however he could to help the mankind. My mother wanted me to become a doctor because my father suffered so much while he was ill with Burger's disease and she thought by encouraging me to become a physician I will make his soul live in peace as I will do my best to minimize pain of others with similar problem. I have done all I could to satisfy her desire as entered the field of medicine since 53 years ago. Obviously without my wife's (Jane) support and love I could not have done one tenth of I have achieved. Also credit goes to all my wonderful friends who have been so encouraging throughout my career.