As a boy, Hal Anger loved the outdoors.

Born in Denver, CO in 1920, he moved to

Long Beach, CA when he was fi ve. Although,

enjoying nature was his innate form of re-

laxation, he showed an aptitude for elec-

tronics in high school and built a television

from scratch before he turned 20 years old.

Considering that the fi rst commercially li-

censed television stations did not appear

to make owning a television worthwhile

until 1941, Anger’s construction is beyond

impressive. During the Second World War,

Anger worked on the development of radar,

which led to his interest in radioisotopes

and their possible use in diagnosing and

treating medical conditions.

It is fairly common knowledge that,

during WWII, all non-crucial industrial

For “Giveness” Sake

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production was circumvented to the war

effort. After 1945, one of Anger’s fi rst proj-

ects was the re-conversion of a cyclotron,

which had been changed into a large-scale

spectrograph in order to produce uranium

isotopes for the fi rst atomic bomb. Now

Anger and his team were challenged to

recreate this cyclotron for purposeful irra-

diation of pituitary tumors. He was well

on his way toward directing his electronic

background to medical purpose.

In 1950, he invented a workable well

counter, a device used to measure radioac-

tivity in small samples. In 1952, he amend-

Have you ever wondered how “awards” come into being? Who invents an award or

how it is funded? In our spotlight articles over the next year, we will attempt to answer

these questions by introducing our readers to the special individuals who have given

their names to grants, awards and scholarships. The fi rst is Hal Anger. Many physi-

cians, technologists and students of nuclear medicine may have heard of Hal Anger

and his contributions to the fi eld, but how many Anger fans are genuinely aware of

his fantastic life accomplishments? More pointedly, how many Anger fans know how

it was that he came to bequeath an incredible amount of money to the Education and

Research Fund (ERF) for SNM?

FALL 2008

CONTRIBUTORNews for the Nuclear Medicine Donor Community

CONTRIBUTOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Education News 2

What’s Going On 4

Grants & Awards 2

Fund of the Month 4

Blog Board 4

Continued on page 3.

Increase Your kNowLeDGeQ: Who is Paul Cole?

A: Paul Cole, PhD who died in 1988, at the untimely age of 41, was an intuitive leader

and a champion of student education. Dr. Cole was Assistant Chief Technologist in the

Division of Nuclear Medicine Technology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and President of

the Technologist Section of SNM at the time of his death.

Continued on page 2.

Education News:

Nothing is permanent but

change. -Heraclitus

| |

| |

Increase Your Knowledge continued from page 1.

Q: Why is there a scholarship fund in his name?

A: Friends, colleagues and students

of Paul Cole established the Paul Cole

Scholarship Fund in memory of his

inspiring dedication to advancing

knowledge in the field of nuclear

medicine.

Q: How does the scholarship work?

A: Students enrolled in or accepted

for enrollment in Baccalaureate,

Associate or Certificate programs in

nuclear medicine technology are eligible

to apply for the annual scholarship. A

committee ranks students based on

their statements of goals, prior academic

performance, current financial need and

the recommendations of the relevant

Program Directors. For more information

visit http://interactive.snm.org/index.

cfm?PageID=2681&RPID=2259

Take NoTe - Brand new Basic Science

courses are available online and on a CD!

Bookmark the link below and visit it this

fall. Be the first on your block to have

the experience of our new higher quality

format, which challenges even the most

knowledgeable nuclear medicine students

and scientists! Go to: https://interactive.

snm.org/index.cfm?pageID=4660 and

click on “Enrollment & Pricing” for a list

of your choices.

You Want to Talk About Grants & Awards?

SNM Student Fellowship Awardhttp://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=2254&RPID=1083

Brienne Bottenus, University of Missouri- Columbia

**Bradley-Alavi Fellow

Marc Normandin, Indiana University School of Medicine

Andrew Hsu, Stanford University

Thomas Sheung Chee Ng, California Institute of Technology

Freddie Daver, University of California, Los Angeles

Neil Saigal, University of California, Irvine

Ethan Balkin, University of Missouri, Columbia

Nicholas Salem, University Hospitals Case Medical Center

Robert Doot, University of Washington, Seattle

Julie Hawkins Smith, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Mitzi and William Blahd, MD Pilot Research Granthttp://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=2255&RPID=1083

Zongjin Li, MD, PhD, Stanford University

Molecular Imaging of Stem Cell Differentiation and Function

SNM Pilot Research Granthttp://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=2255&RPID=1083

Zhen Cheng, PhD, Stanford University

Engineered Small Proteins for HER2 Imaging

Wendol Williams, MD, Yale University

Serotonin 1B receptor binding in PTSD

Akhilesh Sista, MD, University of California, San Francisco

Evaluating 18F-fluoromisonidazole as an Imaging Biomarker for M. tuberculosis

SNM Molecular Imaging Research Grant for Junior Medical Facultyhttp://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=7252&RPID=1083

Jonas Hannestad, MD, PhD, Yale University

Neuroinflammation and depression during interferonalpha treatment of hepatitis C: A SPECT study

SNM Predoctoral Molecular Imaging Scholar Programhttp://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=7252&RPID=1083

Peter Dimetri Olcott, Stanford University

Optically coupled pulse width modulation PET detectors for combined whole body clinical PET/MR systems

Hyo-eun Carrie Bhang, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Development of PEG-Prom-mediated imaging and therapeutic system for cancer

Continued on page 4.

Non-trivial Trivia CaTeGoRY: INsPIRaTIoN

ed Benedict Cassen’s rectilinear scanner so

that it could register emissions from mul-

tiple areas simultaneously, and in 1957, the

Anger scintillation camera was introduced.

In 1962, Alexander Gottschalk traveled to

Berkeley to add his genius to the new Anger

camera. In 1963, these two researchers pre-

sented the fi rst clinical series of brain scans

using the positron scintillation camera as

an exhibit at a SNM meeting that year. By

1965, Anger had produced his longitudinal

scanner, a scanning gamma camera and the

fi rst instrument able to create multiple im-

ages, at different depths, from a single scan.

Over time, Anger received a variety of

distinguished recognitions, and, in June

1994, he was the fi rst recipient of the Cas-

sen Prize, presented at SNM’s Annual

Meeting in Orlando, FL. SNM’s Education

and Research Foundation (ERF) award the

Cassen Prize, named for Benedict Cassen,

another remarkable scientist, for distin-

guished achievement in nuclear medicine.

The Cassen Prize is the equivalent of a No-

bel Prize in nuclear medicine research. (The

Benedict Cassen story will be featured in a

future edition of the Contributor.)

Today, SNM’s ERF provides impetus

toward continuing in Anger’s tradition

through the Hal Anger Endowment – a six

million dollar bequest left in his will. Clear-

ly, Hal was deeply concerned that nuclear

medicine research continues to advance

and expand. A gift of this magnitude is ex-

cellent, tangible proof of his desire and his

willingness to back up his belief. Essential-

ly, Hal Anger took profi ts from his life-long

work and used them to see that such work

survives.

That is just the beginning of the story.

Funds must be managed, invested and allo-

cated, which is what the ERF accomplishes.

The establishment of the Education and

Research Foundation has its own colorful

story. In 1978, William Blahd was the presi-

dent of SNM and his wife, Mitzi, was just as

devoted to nuclear medicine advancement

as her husband. Proof of that dedication

materialized when she decided that there

could be no better motivation than by en-

ergizing an arm of SNM devoted to fund-

ing education and research efforts in the

fi eld. A petite, blond fi reball, Mitzi Blahd,

almost single-handedly breathed new life

into SNM’s ERF through, of all things,

cookies - actually, cookies, cakes, and any

other concoction for which one might use a

recipe. She engineered the compilation of a

cookbook entitled, “Scintillating Cookery”

that was comprised of recipes contributed

by members of the sixteen national, SNM

chapters. It is quite an accomplishment

to begin fund-raising activities for a small

foundation with the production of a cook-

book, when today that foundation manages

millions of dollars for SNM.

Novel research and novel giving – luck-

ily for all those associated with the fi eld of

nuclear medicine, Hal Anger devoted his

life to the development of new and bet-

ter techniques. Mitzi Blahd devoted her

time to securing a foundation in which the

fruition of those new and better techniques

could thrive. Both of these people are in-

strumentally inspirational for simultane-

ously similar and different reasons. Hal

Anger implemented a living legacy through

his will. Mitzi Blahd contributed her cre-

ativity and tireless spirit to a cause, a cause

we should all embrace – the recognition

and advancement of our collective futures.

For “Giveness” Sake continued from page 1.

Bill and Mitzi Blahd

1. According to an APA news story, what percentage of Americans had wills in 2004?

A) 85%B) 27%C) 63%D) 42%

2. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, what percentage of Americans volunteered in 2007?

A) 84%B) 26%C) 62% D) 15%

An

swer

s: 1

. D 2

. B

SNM Postdoctoral Molecular Imaging Scholar Programhttp://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=7252&RPID=1083

Sepideh Shokouhi, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Estimation of plaque burden in Alzheimer’s mouse models using SPECT imaging

Vania E. Kenanova, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles

Novel protein scaffold for targeted delivery of imaging or therapeutic agents

SNM is also pleased to announce the recipient of the $25,000 SNM Covidien Seed Grant in Nuclear Medicine Research, graciously funded by Covidien.http://interactive.snm.org/index.cfm?PageID=2255&RPID=1083

Victor Cheng, MD, Cedars- Sinai Medical Center

Fatty diet to reduce myocardial uptake during fl ourine-18-labeled deoxyglucose positron-emission tomography

You Want to Talk About Grants & Awards? continued from page 2.

If you would like to comment on this post or have an idea, suggestion, or complaint and would like it printed and addressed in a future Contributor issue, email it to Kate Reid at kreid@snm.org

BoaRD:

Education and Research Foundation of the Society of Nuclear Medicine

1850 Samuel Morse DriveReston, VA 20194

703-708-9000

www.smnerf.org

What’s Going On?

FY 2008 Education & Research Contributions

Bench to Bedside Molecular Imaging Campaign

Since the launch of the Campaign

in June 2006, $266,221* has been

raised in pledges and contributions

from almost 200 members. ERF’s

primary goal is to raise $500,000 from

individuals for this important initiative.

As of March 31, 2008, the combined

corporate and individual contribution/

pledge total is $4,386,221.

*Refl ects verbal pledges totaling $65,000

Quarter 2 (January 1, 2008- March 31, 2008) contributions to the ERF total $38,048,

which include donations totaling $16,155 to the Molecular Imaging Campaign.

Total Gifts $38,048

From our Paul Cole Scholarship Winners: