SNMMI Leadership Update: SNMMI 2022 Annual Meeting—In Person at Last

Virginia Pappas

SNMMI hosted more than 6,700 physicians, scientists, technologists, pharmacists, laboratory professionals, and others from more than 131 countries at its hybrid 2022 Annual Meeting, June 11–14. Close to 60% of registrants attended in-person in Vancouver, Canada, and 40% took advantage of the meeting’s virtual platform. For many, this was the first in-person professional meeting since the COVID pandemic began in 2020. SNMMI followed the recommendations of the SNMMI COVID Task Force to promote a safe environment for attendees, who were required to show proof of vaccination, and masking was mandatory in all convention center meeting rooms.

The meeting provided in-person attendees the opportunity to hear first-hand about the latest innovations in the field and to interact with colleagues from around the world. For those who could not attend in person, the virtual meeting was a convenient and effective way to participate.

More than 130 continuing education (CE) and scientific sessions were offered, covering the latest research in nuclear medicine–related cardiology, neurology, oncology, therapy, radiopharmaceutical science, basic science, and more. Five concurrent tracks provided attendees with up to 270 CE credits. The Annual Meeting exhibit hall featured 175 exhibitors, and the poster hall (in-person and virtual) included more than 800 posters.

Saturday’s opening plenary session featured a special welcome and traditional music and dance from First Nation performers, as well as a greeting from the counsel general of France, the 2022 Highlight Country, and a talk by the president of the French Society of Nuclear Medicine. Sunday’s Henry N. Wagner, Jr., MD, Lecture was presented by E.G. Elisabeth de Vries, MD, PhD, discussing opportunities to improve patient care in “Seeing the light with molecular imaging for systemic cancer treatment decisions.” In Monday’s Cassen Lecture, Simon Cherry, PhD, spoke on “A matter of time,” reflecting on the evolution of nuclear medicine, the revolution in associated therapy, and new and upcoming developments in physics and equipment. In Tuesday’s SNMMI-TS plenary session, best-selling author Paul Krismer addressed “Whole-person happiness.” The meeting concluded with the Henry N. Wagner, Jr., MD, Highlights Symposium, with expert speakers covering new developments in nuclear medicine oncology, neuroscience, cardiology, and general nuclear medicine. SNMMI TV daily coverage of the meeting, along with featured interviews, is available at http://ow.ly/mEh130smUs1.

Interactive events kicked off with Saturday’s opening reception in the exhibit hall. Sunday’s events began at 6:30 am with a well-attended Women in Nuclear Medicine breakfast featuring Meredith Walker, cofounder and executive director of Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. Later, “molecular hubs” drew first-time attendees, early-career professionals, and others together to meet colleagues and friends. The annual Knowledge Bowl was followed by a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Ice Cream Social; a Sunday poster mixer and reception; a new Monday Meet-the-Author poster hall reception; a variety of young professionals’ events; and many other networking events and receptions, supplemented by an array of invited and peer-coordinated gatherings surrounding the meeting.

SNMMI and the Education and Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging presented a number of major awards at the meeting (see articles in this issue). A full list of awards will be published in SNMMI’s 2022 Awards Guide.

At the Henry N. Wagner, Jr., Highlights Symposium, the scientific highlights of the Annual Meeting were presented in the context of modern molecular medicine. The SNMMI Henry N. Wagner, Jr., MD, Image of the Year—a depiction of ⁶⁸Ga-FAPI-46 PET signal after acute anterior myocardial infarction—was announced. The image was created by Johanna Diekmann, MD, and colleagues for their abstract “Predicting remodeling and outcome from molecular imaging of fibroblast activation in patients after acute myocardial infarction.” The Henry N. Wagner, Jr., MD, Best Paper of the Year was awarded to Chandrasekhar S. Bal, MD, DNB, DSc (HC), and colleagues for their study “A phase II clinical study on ²²⁵Ac-DOTATATE therapy in advanced stage gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumor patients.”

For those who purchased the virtual meeting add-on, all scientific and CE sessions are available within the education portal on the SNMMI website. All abstracts are available on The Journal of Nuclear Medicine website.

Thanks to all attendees, exhibitors, speakers, SNMMI leaders and volunteers, and SNMMI staff for making this year’s Annual Meeting an educational, enriching, and fun experience! I look forward to seeing everyone again at our 2023 Annual Meeting, June 24–27, at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.