SRS Important Activities Update

Antony Gee, PhD

Below are some important updates I thought you should be aware of:

eSRS 2021
As many of you know, eSRS 2021 was a great success. We had over 450 delegates attending the exciting programme, which showcased the very best in the field from around the globe. Our use of the Remo platform enabled greater interactivity, with 86% of survey respondents saying that their experience was much better or somewhat better than other virtual meetings they attended. To view the abstracts, visit www.srsweb.org/esrs2021-research.

CAFACHEM 2020 and the SRS Think Tank
We have been working hard to add value for our SRS members during the last year or so under challenging circumstances. The change of SRS 2021 to a virtual event has been just one of the adaptations we have made. Last August, we held the first CAFACHEM (carbon, fluorine and organic radiochemistry) meeting (originally intended as a face-to-face event in London, but moved to a virtual event). The meeting attendance was well beyond our expectation with the added bonus of reaching new members that would not normally attend a face-to-face event. Based on its success, we will organise follow-up CAFACHEM meetings in future years. The meeting was organised by the SRS Think Tank (SRS-TT) – another recent innovation in the society which aims to promote networking and opportunities for early career researchers and professionals. If you are interested in knowing more about SRS-TT and getting involved, please contact us: www.srsweb.org/thinktank.

Regional SRS-promoted meetings in Latin America, Africa, and Asia
Another innovation for 2021, is the formation of regional SRS-sponsored meetings in Latin America, Africa and Asia which will be taking place in the autumn this year ….. keep an eye open for the announcements (on our website and social media posts on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram: see details below).

iSRS 2022 (Nantes!) in-person meeting plans have resumed
We are hopeful that the world and our colleagues will have significantly recovered from the losses and limitations imposed by COVID-19, and we are looking forward to a face-to-face event in the beautiful city of Nantes, France. The website has been updated. Find out more by visiting www.srsweb.org/isrs2022.

The Board voted to approve the Gold Coast, Australia for our iSRS 2025 symposium
Through a long and thoughtful process, the choices were narrowed to Sendai, Japan or The Gold Coast, Australia. The champions of the two venues gave “live” Powerpoint presentations to the Board on Thursday, May 27. After subsequent discussion, the Board approved The Gold Coast proposal.

Cheers!

Tony Gee
President of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences

Important update on iSRS 2021 (Nantes)

Antony Gee, PhD

Dear Colleague:

Because of the ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 and its impact on international travel in 2021, we have decided to reschedule the ‘in-person’ Nantes ISRS meeting until May 29 – June 2, 2022.

Instead, we plan to hold a virtual SRS meeting (eSRS) in May 2021, particularly catering to the needs of early career researchers and emerging talent in the field. The meeting will take place in the form of invited keynote talks, oral and poster abstract presentations as well as a carefully selected workshop topics. The meeting will also be held for 3-4 hours each day to reduce screen fatigue and also allow participants to join us simultaneously from across the globe. Presentations will be made available for post-meeting access and accepted abstracts will be published. There will be financial awards for top oral and poster presentations, too.

The portal for eSRS abstract submissions will be open shortly.

It is, of course, hugely disappointing to have to postpone our face-to-face meeting in Nantes by a year, but I’m sure that waiting another year will make the event even more special. We also intend to hold our 2023 ISRS meeting in Hawaii as previously scheduled.

We will be keeping you updated with developments on our exciting program for eSRS-2021 in the coming weeks.

Best wishes,

Tony Gee, along with
the SRS Board of Directors and
the iSRS 2021 Program Committee

SRS President’s Letter, including important updates

Antony Gee, PhD

I thought it timely to share with you some of the recent activities of the SRS and a few things to keep an eye on in the coming weeks and months.

It has been about a year since our successful meeting in Beijing - and in a years’ time we will be holding our 24th ISRS meeting in Nantes, France.

Sandrine Huclier and the local organising committee have been working tirelessly together with the SRS programme committee, board and exec to put together an exciting programme for the symposium. The prime objective of our biennial meeting is to provide top class science, education and networking for our members and associates. To identify what you like about our meetings and what could make future meetings even better, we solicited feedback from many of you (in person or via a post-SRS meeting survey) and have incorporated many of your ideas for our 2021 Nantes symposium.

To further understand and, therefore, serve our members, we have created a brief demographic survey. The survey should take only 5 minutes to complete.

To access the survey, you must be a member or a member within the last two years. Also, you will have to login to your SRS member profile here: https://www.xcdsystem.com/srsweb/member. Then select the “SRS Demographic Survey” button.

We have spent some time building up a portfolio of activities that adds value to SRS membership, irrespective of the biennial SRS cycle. For example, we now have established the CAFACHEM summer school (organic and halogen radiochemistry summer school) which complements the TERRACHEM meeting (radiometal chemistry) as activities that are now to be held in the ‘in between’ meeting years. 

Despite negative affect the coronavirus is having on our lives and economies, we still continue with organizing CAFACHEM summer school as it is scheduled from August 25-28. Nevertheless, we keep reviewing the UK and global guidance and restrictions to provide updates accordingly. Please note that the abstract submission deadline is this Friday, May 1. For more information, browse https://www.srsweb.org/cafachem2020-abstracts.

Other examples of added value for members is the formation of the SRS Think Tank (SRS-TT), which is a forum for early career researchers. It is really encouraging to see the recent SRS-TT members consolidate their careers with new opportunities and networking. Some of these members have now moved on to new roles, in some cases started their own laboratories – a great testament to the emerging talent in our field. Because of this, we are now seeking new members to join SRS-TT. If you are interested or want to know more please send an email to thinktank@srsweb.org.

Putting our current COVID crisis aside, our field still faces many challenges. One of these is the global lack of training and education for radiopharmaceutical professionals. An SRS-led international panel chaired by Peter Scott will be publishing a white paper setting out the case for increased funding in this area, to enable us to bring this issue to the attention of funders and decisionmakers in documented form.

There are more good things emerging from the SRS for me to tell you about, but I will leave some of those for my next SRS update. In the meantime keep safe and sane.

Cheers,

Tony Gee, PhD

SRS President

An SRS update from President Tony Gee

Antony Gee, PhD

It was great to see many of you recently at the 23rd ISRS meeting in Beijing, China. I’m sure you would join me in thanking Fan Wang, the local organizing committee, the program committee, SRS staff, sponsors, volunteers and last but not least the delegates - for making the meeting a great success - truly a forum of excellence for radiopharmaceutical science and networking - in keeping with the societies’ rich traditions. To view PDFs of the symposium abstracts or browse meeting photographs, select ISRS 2019 Home Page and browse the program and/or photo album pages.

The next biennial ISRS meeting will be held in Nantes, France in 2021. We are also now able to announce that the venue for the 2023 meeting will be Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Please keep an eye out for further updates and announcements on the website and in your email inbox over the coming months.

These are exciting times for the SRS - there are many new activities to rouse interests and cater to members’ needs. We have witnessed a rapid growth in the radiopharmaceutical sciences over recent years, making it self-evident that the SRS has, more than ever, a key role to play in enabling the next generation of talent in the field to access the chances they need to flourish. Recognising this, we have recently implemented a new initiative for early-years scientists: SRS-Think Tank (SRS-TT); which aims to increase opportunities and networking for researchers at the start of their careers. Information about this initiative and how you can get involved can be found on the SRS-TT pages. Feel free to:

• Browse the SRS-TT Blog – Radiopharmaconnect

• Find out about our summer school ‘CAFACHEM’ running in London in 2020

• Learn about writing paired reviews for publication in Nuclear Medicine and Biology

I would like to thank the retiring SRS leaders for their great service over recent years: Jae-Min Jong (now Immediate Past President), Gunnar Antoni (now European Director), Michael Adam, Yearn Seong Cho, and Jörg Steinbach.

… and welcome the incoming board/exec members: Jason Lewis (President Elect),Franklin Aigbirhio (Director-at-Large), Jennifer Murphy, Guy Bormans and Fan Wang (Directors: Americas, Europe/Africa and Asia/Oceania, respectively)

All the best,

Tony

SRS Election Results Are In!

The SRS appreciates everyone who ran for office and everyone who participated in voting - you are what makes this organization so great! See the 2019 election results below.

President-Elect: Jason Lewis

Incoming Directors:

• Americas – Jennifer Murphy

• Europe – Guy Bormans

• Asia/Oceania –Fan Wang

Director-at-Large: Franklin Aigbirhio

Additionally, the bylaws amendments were overwhelmingly approved.

ISRS 2019 Abstract Submission Deadline and Updates

The abstract submission deadline for the 23rd International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences is November 30, 2019. Please plan to share your research with colleagues from all over the globe. For more information, browse: ISRS 2019 Abstract Submission.

We have finalized our list of ISRS 2019 Keynote Speakers. We are pleased that each of the following has accepted:

• Prof. Tatsuo Ido (Gachon University) will present our President’s Award lecture on a topic to be determined.

• Prof. Fang Li (Peking Union Medical College Hospital) will speak on New Radiolabeled Probes for Translational Medicine.

• Prof. Simon Cherry (UC Davis) will speak on Catalyzing the development and use of radiopharmaceuticals with total-body PET.

• Prof. Stina Syvänen (Uppsala University) will speak on Engineered antibodies – new possibilities for brain PET.

• Prof. Hank Kung (University of Pennsylvania) will speak on Development of Radiopharmaceutical; From Bench to FDA Approved Clinical Application.

Select the following textual link to learn more about the ISRS 2019 Scientific Program.

New SRS Privacy Policy Developed to Comply with EU's GDPR

GDPR is short for the General Data Protection Regulation that goes into effect on May 25, 2018. It was passed by the European lawmakers to create a harmonized data privacy law across all the EU member states. Its purpose is to:

• support privacy as a fundamental human right;
• require companies that handle personal data to be accountable for managing that data appropriately; and
• give individuals rights over how their personal data is processed or otherwise used.

The SRS has, therefore, updated our privacy policy as follows:

How data is collected and used
     The SRS exists to support you in your advancement of radiopharmaceutical sciences and your career. We collect or record basic personal information (e.g., name, e-mail address, mailing address, phone number) which is voluntarily provided through our online database, through the electronic mail or through other means of communication between you and us. We have no intention to collect more information than what we need to effectively serve you. 
     All member data is used to serve members: including access to online and print versions of journals and notifying them of meetings, employment opportunities, election processes, modifications to our website, or other services that they either expect or may benefit from. We will not make member information available to corporate partners or other organizations marketing intent without the member’s explicit consent (e.g. through a meeting registration check-box that enables members to permit or refuse consent).
     The SRS also possesses and processes non-member data. When this data is less than three years old, we will use this to contact them regarding meeting notifications, modifications to our website or to provide any information that we genuinely feel will be useful for them. When this data is more than three years old, we will seek consent to continue communication. Additionally, non-member data will not be made available to corporate partners without the non-member’s explicit consent (e.g. through a meeting registration check-box that enables non-members to permit or refuse consent).

The use of cookies and analytics
     Cookies are files with small amounts of data, which may include an anonymous unique identifier. Cookies are sent to your browser from a web site and stored on your computer's hard drive. Like many websites, our membership database uses "cookies" to collect information and verify that you are a member. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use the “Members Only” portion of our website. 
     Like many websites, we also collect very limited and anonymous information that your browser sends whenever you visit our site ("Log Data"). This Log Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our site that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other statistics. In addition, we use our web host’s service called Squarespace Analytics to collect, monitor and analyze data like most popular content, referring sites, platforms and page views in order to provide you with an improved website and member experience. To reiterate: this data is anonymous.

Individual rights under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
     There are several rights an individual may exercise under the GDPR, including:

• Right of access: Individuals can ask for a copy of the personal data retained about them and an explanation of how it is being used.
• Right to rectification: Individuals have the right to correct, revise or remove any of the personal data retained about them at any time.
• Right of erasure: Individuals can ask to have their personal data deleted.
• Right to restrict processing: If an individual believes, for example, that their personal data is inaccurate or collected unlawfully, the individual may request limited use of their personal data.
• Right to object: When an individual decides that they no longer wish to allow their personal data to be included in analytics or to receive direct marketing emails or other personalized (targeted) marketing content at any time, the individual may opt out of use of their data for these purposes.

The SRS acknowledges and supports each of these rights.

Third-party data processors
     The SRS uses third-party processors to communicate with and serve members and non-members. These include, but are not limited to, 123signup (our current membership management software/service), Elsevier (journal publisher) and Constant Contact (used for sending email blasts). Each of these processors has indicated their willingness to comply with the GDPR and other recognized guidelines in their roles as data processors on behalf of the SRS.

Data storage
     Each processor and the SRS make use of advanced technology like encryption keys as well as the employment of industry-standard measures and processes for detecting and responding to inappropriate attempts to breach their systems.

Data protection officer
     Though the SRS does not make data processing a core part of our business, and we—therefore—do not believe we have to designate a data protection officer (DPO), our Executive Director, Charles Metzger, is our appointed DPO. Should you have any questions, complaints or needs, please contact him via email (cmetzger@srsweb.org), phone (+1-830-370-6554) or mail (SRS, 223 Green Oaks Loop, Fredericksburg, TX 78624-4576 USA).

Changes to This Privacy Policy
     This Privacy Policy is effective as of May 25, 2018 and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page.
     We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically. Your continued use of the Service after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy.
     If we make any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you either through the email address you have provided us, or by placing a prominent notice on our website.

SRS Leadership decides on Nantes, France for ISRS 2021

Jae Min Jeong, PhD

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The venue of ISRS 2021 was decided to be Nantes by the Board of Directors. Nantes is a beautiful city in France, but why Europe again? ISRS 2017 was in Dresden and ISRS 2019 will be in Beijing. Then ISRS 2021 should be in America, right?

Actually, the selection of ISRS region is regulated by our Code of Practice which states: “Consecutive ISRS meetings in the same geographical area are excluded.” So, after Beijing in 2019, ISRS 2021 could be held either in America or Europe. Generally, America would be preferred since 2017 was in Europe.

One American and two European cities participated for the competition for our 2021 venue. However, the American city did not satisfy some essential conditions of an ISRS venue. That is one of the reasons why our 2021 venue could not be decided during ISRS 2017 in Dresden. Eventually, the Board of Directors decided to select the 2021 venue from the European cities, and Nantes won in the final voting.

On behalf of the SRS, I congratulate Dr. Sandrine Huclier as she assumes the role of ISRS 2021 Program Chair in Nantes, and expect great success of the future symposium.

Jae Min Jeong, Ph.D.
President, Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences

Positive transitions

I wish to thank Jörg Steinbach and Constantin Mamat along with the local Dresden organizing committee for all of their efforts in providing another successful ISRS scientific program and an opportunity for us to network in a beautiful central European setting. Thank you as well to our corporate partners for their participation and support of our meeting.

When nominated and elected, the 2-year presidential term and 6-year leadership commitment seemed daunting. In retrospect, it is hard for me to believe that 2 years has gone by. The SRS Board and I have expanded the educational focus of the organization. The SRS is now the home for TERACHEM, the premier radiometals symposium that meets every 4 years in Bressanone, Italy. The next meeting is in September 2018.

Finally, I would like to thank the outgoing SRS Board members: Bert Windhorst (Immediate Past President), Sally Schwarz (Treasurer), Yasuhisa Fujibayashi, Robert Mach, Eyal Mishani and Roger Schibli. Congratulations to the newly elected members, Tony Gee (President-elect), Cathy Cutler (Treasurer), Peter Scott (Director, Americas) , Danielle Vugts (Director, Europe), Michael Kassiou (Director, Asia/Oceania), Gunnar Antoni (Director-at-Large). I wish Jae-Min Jeong all the best as he assumes the President post.

I thank you for all of your support over the last several years and your continued support of SRS!

A letter from the editors of Nuclear Medicine and Biology

Nuclear Medicine & Biology (NMB) and the Society for Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (SRS) have a long history of joint activities to disseminate information to advance the radiopharmaceutical sciences. Most importantly, NMB has been the official scientific journal of the SRS since the SRS was established. The aims and scope of NMB are very close to those of the SRS, making these two independent entities natural partners. A membership in SRS offers a complimentary subscription to the e-version of NMB, and for only $30 USD extra, a subscription to the printed version may be added. In addition, NMB publishes abstracts of SRS-affiliated symposia like the Terachem symposia. Because of this lasting collaboration, we strengthen the radiopharmaceutical sciences field, benefitting all of us. The editorial board of NMB and the SRS board of directors agree that this should be continued in the future. One example of a new service to the SRS membership is a NMB e-table of content available to SRS members.

As editors of NMB, we appreciate all submissions from SRS scientists and we strongly encourage SRS scientists to submit their work to NMB. Moreover, we preferably welcome SRS scientists to review manuscripts, since they demonstrate expertise in the field. By these means, we will continue the high quality of science published in NMB.

As all scientists now experience, the impact factor of journals is becoming increasingly important. NMB has a steady impact factor of around 2.5, which is competitive in our field, even compared to nuclear medicine journals. However, since our field is relatively small, NMB cannot compete with journals outside the field of radiopharmaceutical sciences where impact factors above 5 are common. Jeanne Link has written an interesting editorial about this topic, Nucl. Med & Biol 2015;42(5):426-427.

The editorial board of NMB is continuously working on increasing the impact factor of NMB. Most importantly, we seek high quality submissions that after publication would attract large number of citations. Moreover, NMB has no limit the numbers of papers cited in a particular manuscript, so only referring to review publications could be avoided. In fact, referring to the primary publications instead of reviews is often more appropriate. It is up to all scientists in our field to take their responsibility to publish in NMB in order to promote radiopharmaceutical sciences and to create a sustainable situation.

We look forward to receiving your manuscripts!

Bill Eckelman & Bert Windhorst

Your membership supports our commitment to students

Henry VanBrocklin, PhD, SRS PresidentThough it has been over six months since we met at the 21st ISRS in Columbia, Missouri, this is the first NMB letter since that meeting. I would like to thank all of the attendees for your strong scientific contributions and participation in the meeting and workshops. This was a well-attended meeting with over 590 attendees, and we were pleased to offer travel bursaries to assist over 100 students. I am sure that all of you would join me in congratulating the local Organizing Committee (Alan Ketring, Wynn Volkert, Cathy Cutler, Susan Deutscher, Heather Henkins, Timothy Hoffman, Raghuraman Kannan, Kattesh Katti, John Lever, Susan Lever, Michael Lewis, Thomas Quinn, and Jeff Smith) led by Sylvia Jurisson and Barbara Wills, conference coordinator from the University of Missouri, on the successful conference. We look forward to our next scientific meeting in 2017 in Dresden, Germany.

As a reminder to all of our members, the SRS supports student/trainee travel bursaries to non-SRS meetings. Details for this benefit and forms to apply for support are on the SRS website in the “Meetings” section (/meetings/) . Please apply early to allow the SRS Education Committee time to review and approve the application.

Your membership is important to the maintenance of our society and our educational commitment. During the non-meeting years we often see a drop in membership. Our commitment to funding student travel to non-SRS meetings is supported in part by your annual dues. There are several additional member benefits including electronic subscription to Nuclear Medicine and Biology, our official journal, and presentations from the 21st ISRS workshops. We are in the midst of our annual membership renewal and enrollment season, which began in October and will continue for two more months. If you have not already done so, please browse /membership/ to renew your membership today. And please encourage colleagues to join. We appreciate your support to continue the good work of this society.

This is your society, and as members you have a voice in the governance and administration of the society assets. Therefore, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and ideas on how SRS may better serve the member as well as the profession. Please feel free to email me (henry.vanbrocklin@ucsf.edu) with your thoughts and ideas.

Looking back with gratitude; looking forward with excitement

Henry VanBrocklin, PhD, SRS PresidentDear Friends and Colleagues,

It was great to see many of you recently at the 21st ISRS meeting in Columbia, Missouri. I would like to thank Silvia Jurisson, the local organizing committee, and the program committee for planning and assembling an engaging and enlightening meeting. I know that you all join me in appreciation for the many volunteer hours that were given to provide a venue for us to share our scientific successes. Congratulations to Columbia for being a gracious host!

As this is my blog post as SRS President, I want to thank Bert Windhorst for his guidance and supervision of the Society as President over the last two years. His passion and leadership clearly strengthened the SRS organization both administratively and financially. Bert was instrumental in developing written policies for educational support of members and conferences with the assistance of the education committee. He also developed new policies for the biennial Society awards with the awards committee. Both of these policies were unanimously approved by the Board of Directors. Bert also worked with the Board for the Society to transition the financial responsibility for the biennial ISRS meetings to the Society. Since the inception in the 1970’s, the financial responsibility for the biennial meetings was left to the local organizing committees. As the meeting has grown and costs have risen significantly over the last 40+ years, it is more difficult for the local committees to take on this commitment. Starting with the 2019 meeting, the SRS will be financially responsible for its own meeting, like many of the other professional societies to which we belong. This is a significant step forward for the financial stability of our organization as well as the stability of the biennial symposium series, and I praise Bert for this successful effort.

I am excited to have taken the helm from Bert and look forward to working with our membership to continue to enhance the member benefits. I will working with the board to identify ways to keep our membership rolls level throughout the cycle between meetings. This will enable us to more effectively steward our financial commitments between meetings and more effectively support the educational activities of the Society. We will also look at ways to enhance our educational activities to a broader segment of our membership in between the biennial meetings.

This is your Society, and as members you have a voice in the governance and administration of the Society assets. As our international footprint grows, how do we more effectively engage and retain our members? Therefore, I would appreciate hearing from you on the issues upon which we should be focusing. Please feel free to email me your thoughts and ideas.

It is an honor to lead your organization, and I look forward interacting with many of you over the next two years.

Respectfully Yours,

Henry VanBrocklin, PhD, SRS President

Revised Bursary Applications - Submissions Welcome!

Henry VanBrocklin, PhD, SRS President-ElectDear Friends and Colleagues,

One of the rewarding tasks of the SRS President-elect is to chair the SRS Education Committee. Since its inception, supporting educational programs and advancing the careers of young investigators have been key elements of SRS activities. The fundamental task of the SRS Education Committee is to oversee the policies, processes and selection of individuals and workshops for disbursement of funds that have been raised to support educational activities. The largest portion of the education budget supports student’s participation at the biannual ISRS meetings and SRS affiliated/ co-organized meetings such as TERACHEM. In 2014, $15,000 was given to underwrite student travel to TERACHEM, enabling 20 students from 13 countries worldwide, including India, Iran and Cuba, to attend the conference in Brezzanone. The SRS also supported the travel for two individuals to attend the Targetry Workshop in Prague.

In June of 2014, the SRS board adopted a revised policy for the disbursement of SRS educational funds. This updated policy outlines how the organization will provide funds annually to support ISRS and affiliated/supported meetings and can be reviewed by accessing our Code of Practice. In addition, a portion of funds each year will be available to support young scientist attendance at non-SRS or SRS co-organized educational workshops as well as provide individuals with the opportunity to attend a workshop or course of their choosing, provided these activities are aligned with SRS educational goals. The policy provides an overview of the eligibility criteria for individuals and courses that may wish to apply for funds. It also describes the selection process that the Education Committee uses for the disbursement of funds.

Individuals wishing to apply for support to attend a course or workshop may obtain the “SRS Trainee Bursary Application” from this site's Meetings page. Likewise, course organizers may apply for support using the “SRS Course/Workshop Support Application,” also found on the Meetings page. Please apply as early as possible to give the Education Committee time to review your application prior to the meeting or educational opportunity.

I would like to thank the current SRS Education Committee members, Dr. Michael Kassiou from Australia and Dr. Mark Bartholoma from Germany, for their efforts in support of SRS educational goals.

We look forward receiving your application for educational travel bursaries.

SRS dues renewal and enrollment season is here!

Sally Schwarz, SRS Treasurer

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

The fall season is just beginning, and with it comes the momentum that this season brings. It also begins the SRS membership renewal drive. We want to remind you all that the primary mission of the SRS is to support students and post-doctoral fellows in travel bursaries to present their research results at SRS sponsored and co-sponsored meetings and symposia, and part of your dues go toward funding these efforts. With the renewal of your membership you will receive the following benefits:

1. Complimentary subscription (e-only) to NMB with full membership ($150.00 USD)
2. For an additional $30.00 USD you can obtain both electronic & hardcopy journal access
3. Deeply discounted registration to ISRS 2015—which will be held May 26-31, 2015 at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, MO.
4. Member-only access to the SRS website.
5. Optional, discounted rates to the Quarterly Journal of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging 
6. Access to the new, online directory for members

We also offer an Emeritus membership for $35.00 (USD) with e-only journal, and $65.00 USD for both electronic & hardcopy journal access. To learn more about membership and to access online enrollment and renewal links, please visit our Membership page.

The SRS website hosts a “Regulatory Corner” for those with member access, containing links to US, EU and Japanese guidance and regulations. These documents provide helpful information for the production of clinical and clinical research PET and SPECT radiopharmaceuticals for investigators involved in clinical development. The member-only section also contains selected presentations from past meetings.

I want to also invite you as a member, to get involved to make your society work toward goals you are interested in achieving. It is through your support that SRS is empowered to grow and flourish. I encourage you to support the SRS, and renew your membership for 2015, or become a new member!

Best regards,

Sally W. Schwarz, MS, BCNP
Treasurer

SRS members are invited to submit nominations for 2015 SRS elections

On behalf of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (SRS), we would like to announce the call for nominations for the 2015 SRS elections. We are accepting nominations for the following Officer and Board Member positions. 

• President- Elect (two year term). The President-Elect will be an SRS member from Asia/Oceania for the 2015-2017 term of office. 
• Three (3) Board Members: One from each global region – The Americas, Europe and Asia/Oceania (six-year terms)

Elected individuals will begin his/her terms at the SRS Business Meeting that will be held during the 21st International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Sciences (May 26-31, 2015 in Columbia, Missouri, USA). We ask you to remember that as an SRS Officer or Board member, nominees will be expected to devote significant personal time and energy to provide the SRS critical leadership in maintaining and enhancing the Society in service to its members,  advancing radiopharmaceutical sciences at the international level, and should attend all SRS conferences and meetings. Nominations should be sent to any one of the current members of the SRS Officers or Board of Directors for recommendation, who in turn will forward them to the SRS Nominating Committee. 

Nominations should be submitted by August 4, 2014. The names and contact information of the SRS Officers and Board of Directors are found at http://www.srsweb.org/about/.

Your assistance in helping the SRS identify effective future leadership is important.

President-Elect, Henry VanBrocklin invites your input

Henry VanBrocklin, PhD, SRS President-ElectDear Friends and Colleagues,

As I commence my commitment as a leader within the SRS, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support during the election and to all those who accepted nominations to run for office. The continued success of our organization relies on the volunteers who agree to serve. I appreciate your confidence in my abilities to guide SRS and look forward to working with the board and membership over the next several years.

With the successful conclusion of the 20th ISRS on Jeju, I congratulate the Organizing Committee for a wonderful meeting highlighting the latest innovative chemistry and instrumentation research. We look forward to the 2015 meeting in Columbia, Missouri USA and the 2017 meeting in Dresden, Germany.

As we enter the Fall season, it is time for us to renew our membership in SRS. Keep your member benefits active by completing your annual renewal. Your support enables the development of society education programs and provides students the opportunity to attend the biennial meetings. These important programs support the future generation of radiopharmaceutical scientists, keeping our society vital.

Again, I look forward to working with you over the next four years to strengthen our society. I ask that you contact me by email [henry.vanbrocklin(at)ucsf.edu] with any thoughts and ideas that you may have to improve the quality of our meetings, enhance our educational programs and membership offerings.

Respectfully Yours,

Henry VanBrocklin

Post-Doctoral Fellowship Opportunity

Eyal Mishani, PhD, Hadassah Medical OrganizationHADASSAH MEDICAL ORGANIZATION
HADASSAH EIN KEREM
CYCLOTRON RADIOCHEMISTRY FACILITY

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Radiochemistry

Dear Fellow,

We, at the Cyclotron/Radiochemistry Facility at the Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem, Israel, are looking for a post-doctoral fellow in radiochemistry for a period of 2-3 years. If you have an interest in this position or are acquainted with someone who has a broad-based experience in fluorine-18 and carbon-11 chemistry and automation, please contact me via email. The post-doctoral fellow will be mainly involved in two projects, including (i) development of fluorine-18 labeled ammonium salt derivatives for myocardial perfusion PET-imaging, and (ii) carbon-11, fluorine-18 and iodine-124 labeling of low-MW tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for PET imaging of EGFR-positive tumors in oncology. The selected candidate will be granted full scholarship.

The Cyclotron Radiochemistry facility at Hadassah hospital operates two cyclotrons, a small animal-dedicated PET/ CT, and fully equipped radiochemistry and pre-clinical laboratories enabling the production and research of various radiolabeled compounds. The facility personnel includes permanent experienced engineers, chemists and biologists who will support and assist any activity carried out by the selected postdoc candidate.

For further information and submission of CV, please contact Prof. Eyal Mishani at mishani (at) ekmd.huji.ac.il

The SRS community has lost a long-time colleague and friend

Dirk Roeda, 3-4-1951 - 19-7-2013Dr. Dirk Roeda, of Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, passed away on July 19.

Dirk Roeda was born in 1951, April 3rd, in Weesp, The Netherlands. He studied organic chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam with Pr. Fritz Bickelhaupt and subsequently completed a PhD thesis on the radiosynthesis and application in radiopharmaceutical chemistry of carbon-11-labelled phosgene at the same university (1982). This work was in part carried out at the Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot (CEA) in Orsay, France (Dr. Dominique Comar).

Dr. Roeda then moved to Turku (Finland) to join the Turku Medical Cyclotron Project of the University of Turku and Åbo Akademi, the infant stage of today's national Turku PET Centre, to contribute to the further development of the radiochemistry activities there. 

In 1986, he joined the medical physics department of the University of Aberdeen (Scotland) under Prof. John Mallard to participate in the setup of a PET chemistry laboratory from scratch, including the installation of a second-hand CS30 cyclotron.

In 1993, Dr. Roeda returned to Orsay (France) to join Dr. Christian Crouzel's radiochemistry group at the Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, where he pursued his research interests on the development of methodologies in carbon-11 and fluorine-18 chemistry, notably the synthesis and application of carbon-11-labeled one-carbon synthons like formaldehyde, formic acid, formyl chloride, carbon monoxide and phosgene as well as the exploration of novel routes of radiofluorination. 

Reflections and Expectations

SRS Immediate Past President, Yasuhisa Fujibayashi

It is surprising for me that my two-year term as President of the Society of Radiopharmaceutical Sciences has come to the end. Dr. Albert D. Windhorst, Head of Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam Netherlands, has begun his term as the new SRS President. Dr. Windhorst is a young and active researcher and leader in the field, and his ability has already been demonstrated through his role as Chairman of ISRS 2011. I believe that he will bring a breath of fresh air into our Society.

I served as the fourth President following the establishment of the SRS, and it has been a period of stabilization as well as a period of preparation for next steps. Fortunately, our financial condition and member numbers have been healthy during my term. This cannot be realized without the continuous and effective efforts of the Board of Directors, especially SRS Officers: Drs. Wynn Volkert, Albert D. Windhorst, Sally Schwarz and Eyal Mishani. Close cooperation with Mr. Charles Metzger, SRS Executive Director, has been also an essential part of my job. I would like to express my deep appreciation to all of them for their support.

During my term, a new relationship was created between the SRS and Elsevier, publisher of Nuclear Medicine and Biology. This was a big challenge for the Society and involved a contract revision responsive to young, paperless-age members. SRS leadership believe that this renegotiated contract will also positively affect the financial future of the Society.

The establishment of an “Emeritus” category of SRS membership was a response to the maturation of the Society. Members who have accumulated at least five consecutive years of SRS membership and who have fully retired from the field of radiopharmaceutical sciences but who wish to remain members of the SRS may become Emeritus Members.

Now, it is time to make a leap forward. I look forward to working with Dr. Albert Windhorst, the new SRS President, as he leads the Society with a new wisdom, dream and enthusiasm.

Congratulations and Gratitude

SRS Past President, Wynn VolkertThe SRS continues to make important strides to take advantages of exciting opportunities the global environment offers and to help address the challenges our membership is experiencing in today’s rapidly evolving world. The ISRS 2013 meeting in Jeju, Korea (May 12-17) offers a diverse and strong scientific program highlighting recent advances in radiopharmaceutical research. The SRS remains committed to supporting students and post-doctoral fellows in travel bursaries to present their research results at SRS sponsored and co-sponsored meetings and symposia.

In addition to these activities and notable advances in other areas (e.g., SRS website expansion and upgrades), we have received commitments from esteemed SRS members to serve the Society in leadership positions. The following members will initiate their respective terms of office following the ISRS 2013 meeting:

• President-Elect: Henry VanBrocklin (President-Elect)
• Director from the Americas: Michael Adam
• Director from Europe: Anthony Gee
• Director from Asia/Oceania: Yearn Seong Choe
• Director-at-Large: Jason Lewis

Please join me in congratulating our newly elected SRS leaders who will devote considerable energy, expertise and guidance that will ensure a dynamic and effective Society to serve our membership into the future.

I want to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the SRS officers and staff—whom I have had the pleasure of working with during my tenure in office—for their dedication, insights and tireless efforts in their service to our Society and its members. Charles Metzger, Executive Director of the SRS, has done an excellent job since taking over the reins of managing the SRS since the ISRS 2011 meeting and will continue to be a valuable advocate for progressive future changes. The members of the SRS Executive Committee deserve special recognition for the extraordinary contributions of time and leadership. It has been my honor privilege to serve you and the Society, and I look forward to the continued growth and expansion of radiopharmaceutical sciences worldwide.