Invited Speakers

Professor Denis Agostini, MD- PhD, is currently Head of the Nuclear Medicine Department of University Hopsital of Caen-Normandy (France). Previously, Pr. Agostini served on the faculty of University Hospital as a Vice-Dean (1999-2014) and was the educational manager of cardiology at the ESMIT committee (EANM :1999-2014). He, recently became the President of Foundation of CHU Caen Normandy in 2024.

Pr. Agostini is a recognized scholar in the field of nuclear medicine and in particular in nuclear cardiology (SPECT-CZT and PET-CT). His team at the University Hospital Caen-Normandy has been committed to the exploration of cutting-edge nuclear cardiology imaging, including the development of cardiac dynamic acquisitions (2018), dual cardiac innervation-perfusion acquisitions (2019) and AI-based algorithms for cardiac image applications (2023) on CZT cameras. The world’s first CZT 360° VERITON was installed in his department in 2017. Pr Agostini has more than 180 international publications mostly in nuclear medicine journals.

Prof. Dr. Akram Al-Ibraheem, MD, FRCP, FEBNM, DCBNC, FANMB, FRCPE Chairman of the Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT Department at Jordan's King Hussein Cancer Center. Al-Ibraheem currently serves as President of the Asia Oceania Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology (AOFNMB) and President of the Jordanian Society of Nuclear Medicine. He has served as an expert for the International Atomic Energy Agency since 2012. Prof. Al-Ibraheem has written and published around 200 peer-reviewed articles and book’s chapter on the applications of PET/CT molecular imaging in oncology, radionuclide therapy, cancer diagnosis, and theranostics. He is an associate editor of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Journal and the Asia Oceania Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Biology among other membership of several international journal editorial boards and has been invited to speak at numerous international conferences.

Prof John Buscombe

Is a recently retired nuclear medicine physician with over 30 years experience in nuclear medicine working as a Specialist in Medway,  the Royal Free Hospital London, Cambridge and Barts Health, London . He was President of the BNMS from 2018-2021. He is currently a professor of nuclear medicine at the University of Pretoria

He has been involved in research in many areas including nuclear cardiology, infection imaging SPECT-CT, non oncology PET and setting up or expanding theragnostic services where he has worked and has advised many other centres worldwide on delivery of high quality nuclear medicine and theragnostics.

He has 260 plus peer reviewed papers and edited or authored 8 books.  

Antonia Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss, M.D., Ph.D.

Director of the PET-CT Unit, Deputy Head Clinical Cooperation Unit Nuclear Medicine, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany

Antonia Dimitrakopoulou-Strauss is a professor of nuclear medicine at the University of Heidelberg, head of PET-CT and deputy head of the Clinical Cooperation Unit Nuclear Medicine at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. The research focus of her is the use of molecular imaging with positron emission tomography in oncological patients. Overall, she has co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. She is member of several Editorial Boards, reviewer for several scientific journals, congresses and grant proposals and has contributed to the organization of international scientific meetings.

Senior Professor of Nuclear Medicine and Nuclear Oncology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Head of the Nuclear Medicine Department at the Nacional Cancer Institute in Mexico (2000 – 2014).
Past-President of the Latin American Association of Societies of Biology and Nuclear Medicine.
Past-President of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology.
Nuclear Medicine Physician and Programme Officer of the Division of Human Health at the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications of the International Atomic Energy Agency (2014- ).

Dr. Savvas Frangos is a nuclear medicine specialist at the Nuclear Medicine Department and the Thyroid Cancer Clinic of the Bank of Cyprus Oncology Center in Nicosia, Cyprus. He obtained his Board Certification in Nuclear Medicine in 1996 and is a Fellow of the European Board of Nuclear Medicine, where he has served for many years as a Member of the Fellowship Examination Committee. Dr. Frangos has held key leadership roles in the field, including serving as Secretary of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine and as Secretary and Treasurer of the Nuclear Medicine Section of the UEMS. He is currently the President of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology (WFNMB) and President of the Cyprus Society of Nuclear Medicine. In addition to his clinical and organizational contributions, Dr. Frangos is actively involved in scientific publishing. He is a member of the editorial boards of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and the European Journal of Hybrid Imaging, as well as co-editor of the Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Dr. Nicolas A. Karakatsanis is appointed as Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and board-certified licensed Nuclear Medicine Physicist in the Radiology Department at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York. His current research interests focus mainly on total-body, cost-effective dynamic Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging including quantitative image reconstruction algorithms and data analysis. Dr Karakatsanis is the author of more than 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, the recipient of the prestigious 2023 Hal O’Brien Rising Star Award in Nuclear Medicine for his leadership and contributions in clinically adoptable quantitative PET imaging and the founder of the online resources’ website NMMItools.org.

After qualifying from medical school in (1985-1992), from the University of Essen, ML undertook training in paediatric haematology/oncology at the University of Madison, Wisconsin, USA. From there, ML went on to take a 6-year fellowship in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Würzburg, where, in November 2000, he became a consultant. In 2008 ML moved to the University of Ulm to become professor of nuclear medicine and in June 2013 became full professor and chairman of the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Marburg.

ML has been involved in multiple clinical trials in endocrinology, endocrine oncology paediatric oncology, including several multicentric, international trials in differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

In addition, he is a member of numerous medical societies, including the German Society of Nuclear Medicine, the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Endocrine Tumor Study Group, and the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. From 2008 to 2012 he was chairman of the therapy committee for the European Association of Nuclear Medicine and a member of the scientific advisory board of the National Patient Support group for Thyroid Cancer. From October 2014 until December 2020 he was chairing the newly founded Thyroid Committee of the EANM. From July 2021 to July 2024 he served as president of the German Association of Nuclear Medicine.

Present position: Chair Department of Nuclear Medicine; University Hospital of Marburg/Germany

University and professional education:

10/85-04/88     Medical School, University of Bochum/Germany

04/88-06/92     Medical School, University of Essen/Germany

09/91-11/91    Internship in General Surgery

                        University of Wisconsin-Madison/USA

01/93-06/94     Residency, Department of Nuclear Medicine,

University Hospital Essen/Germany

07/94-10/94    Research Assistant, Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Essen/Germany

11/94-10/00     Residency, Department of Nuclear Medicine,

University Hospital Würzburg/Germany

05/02-09/02    Postgraduate studies in „Quality Management in Medicine,“ University of Heidelberg/Germany

11/00-06/08    Nuclear Medicine Physician and senior staff member of the Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Würzburg/Germany

07/08-06/13    Full Professor and Deputy Chair of the Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Ulm/Germany

Since 07/13    Full Professor and Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Medicine, University Hospital Marburg/Germany

Positions and Honors

2008 – 2013 Chairman of the Therapy Committee, European Association of Nuclear

Medicine

2011 – 2016 Chairman of the Thyroid Committee, German Association of Nuclear

Medicine

Since 2010 “EORTC Endocrine Tumor Task Force” Member, European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer

2011 – 2017 Speaker of the Thyroid Committee, German Association of Endocrinology

2010 – 2015 Member „Pediatric Thyroid Cancer Guidelines Task Force“, American

Thyroid Association ATA

2014 - 2020 Chairman of the Thyroid Committee, European Association of Nuclear Medicine

Since 2014 Member Therapy Center of Excellence (TCoE), Subcommittee of Radioactive Iodine Theranostic, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, USA

2016 - 2020 Vice President German Society of Nuclear Medicine

2021 - 2024 President of the German Society of Nuclear Medicine

Satoshi Minoshima, MD, PhD

Anne G. Osborn Chairman and Professor
Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, University of Utah

Mike Sathekge is the Professor and head of Nuclear Medicine at University of Pretoria & Steve Biko Academic Hospital as well as the President & CEO of Nuclear Medicine Research Infrastructure (NuMeRI) in South Africa. He has conducted several early phase clinical studies in prostate cancer as a principal investigator and is in the forefront regarding treatment of targeted alpha therapy. Prof Sathekge has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles, excluding abstracts and book chapters. Mike is an Editor-in-Chief of Seminars in Nuclear Medicine. He is also an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Mike is a member of The Lancet Oncology’s international advisory board. Prof Sathekge is the head of the IAEA Anchor Center for Rays of Hope for Cancer care in South Africa and Chair of the Africa Health Research Institute. He is a recipient of numerous international and national merit awards.

Associate Professor and Medical Director of Theranostics
– The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
President – Nuclear Medicine Society Singapore
Board Director – Asian Oceania Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology
– American College of Nuclear Medicine
Associate Editor – Neuroendocrinology;
– Advances in Radiotherapy & Nuclear Medicine

Professor Alexis Vrachimis studied medicine in Greece and specialized in Nuclear Medicine at the University Clinic of Münster, Germany, where he also earned his doctoral degree and the venia legendi. In 2016, he returned to Cyprus as a founding member of the German Medical Institute and currently holds a professorship at the European University of Cyprus. His primary research focus is thyroid cancer, and he has co-authored several national and international guidelines in this area. Additionally, he serves as the Secretary and Treasurer of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine. Outside of his professional pursuits, he is an avid soccer enthusiast.