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2023 Saul Hertz, MD Award Winner: Rodney Hicks, MB, BS, MD
The Saul Hertz, MD Award is a lifetime achievement award, recognizing individuals who have made outstanding contributions to radionuclide therapy.
In 2023, the award was presented to Rodney Hicks, MB, BS, MD.
Dr. Hicks obtained his MB, BS from Monash University in 1982, attended the Royal Australian College of Physicians in 1990 (FRACP), and completed a fellowship in Nuclear Medicine at the University of Michigan in 1990. He obtained his MD from the University of Melbourne in 1999 (Thesis Title: Functional imaging approaches to the evaluation of myocardial performance). He has been selected as a Fellow of the International Cancer Imaging Society (FICIS) since 2002 and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences (FAHMS) since 2015.
Dr. Hicks is currently a Professor at the University of Melbourne, The Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology. Professor Hicks was truly instrumental in introducing the first clinical PET to Australia by establishing the PET facility at Peter Maccallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac) in 1996. Peter Mac is Australia's only public hospital dedicated solely to high quality treatment and support to cancer patients and their families. The center provides a high-level imaging service in cancer diagnosis, staging, therapeutic monitoring and research. The team at Peter Mac performs more than I 0,000 PET/CT examinations per annum on four combined PET/CT scanners, including many novel non-FDG radiotracers, and numerous radionuclide therapy treatments for various malignancies. Under Rod's leadership, Peter Mac has been instrumental in the development of several Theranostic trials that paved the way to the introduction of new radionuclide therapies and techniques to the world of Nuclear Medicine.
Dr. Hicks is a prolific scientific writer with over 600 manuscripts in leading journals, an impressive h-index of 85 and close to 30,000 citations. He secured millions of dollars in research funds over his career. He is a top radionuclide therapy researcher not only in Australia but worldwide with outstanding lifetime achievement and contribution to the field of Theranostics. Dr. Hicks's reputation is recognized by frequent invitations to speak at international meetings and to serve as a reviewer and on the editorial boards of major nuclear medicine publications. He has been a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine since in 1989 and serve in the advisory board of numerous Nuclear Medicine and Radionuclide Therapy organizations, and on the editorial board of 14 high impact journals including JNM, EJNM, and Lancet Oncology. As another example of his visionary leadership role for the field of cancer imaging and therapy, he is currently Editor-in-Chief of Cancer Imaging, the Journal of the International Cancer Imaging Society. During his almost 40 years of professional career, Rod received numerous awards and recognitions from several organizations including the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine, Indian Cancer Congress, International Cancer Imaging Society, and SNMMI.
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| Rodney Hicks, MB, BS, MD |