Bengt Roland Langstrom receives SNM's 2010 Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award

Bengt Roland Lľngström, Ph.D., a professor in the department of biochemistry and organic chemistry at Uppsala University in Sweden, has been named as this year's recipient of the Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Pioneer Award for his contributions to the nuclear medicine profession. Lľngström was presented the award by SNM—an international scientific and medical organization—during its 57th Annual Meeting, June 5th, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In addition to his position as a professor of chemistry at Uppsala University, Lľngström is the director of the Uppsala University PET Centre. He has more than 20 years of experience in the synthesis and applications of radiolabeled tracers for PET.

"Dr. Lľngström heads up one of the most productive radiochemistry facilities in the world," said Michael M. Graham, Ph.D., M.D., 2009󈝶 president of SNM. "This prestigious award recognizes his achievements over the past 20 years."

Lľngström has published more than 280 papers in chemistry and another 355 in research related to medicine and the life sciences. He has received several awards for his research, including the 1999 Arrhenius Award from the Swedish Chemical Society.

"I was so pleased to learn I was receiving this award," Lľngström said. "It is both a professional and personal achievement for me, as well as an honor to be recognized by my colleagues."

Each year, SNM presents the Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Medicine Pioneer Award to an individual for outstanding contributions to the field of nuclear medicine. De Hevesy received the 1943 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in determining the absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of radioactive compounds in the human body. His work led to the foundation of nuclear medicine as a tool for diagnosis and therapy and he is considered the father of nuclear medicine. SNM has given the de Hevesy Award every year since 1960 to honor groundbreaking work in the field of nuclear medicine.

"During his career at Uppsala University, Dr. Lľngström has mentored numerous students in medicine and pharmacology, while making seminal contributions to radiochemistry and its application to nuclear medicine and studying many diseases," said David M. Goldenberg, Sc.D., M.D., Garden State Cancer Center, Belleville, N.J., who was the 2005 recipient of SNM's Paul C. Aebersold Award and introduced Lľngström at SNM's 57th Annual Meeting.

"The list of previous recipients of this award is impressive and includes numerous Nobel laureates—such as Ernest Lawrence, who built the world's first cyclotron for the production of radionuclides, and Glenn Seaborg, who discovered more than half a dozen new elements," said Graham. "Lľngström joins a select group of scientists whose research is deemed to have had a significant impact on medicine."

Provided by Society of Nuclear Medicine