The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science

Richard L. Wahl, MD, FACR

Washington University, where he also served as a research fellow in the Department of Immunology. In 1983, Dr. Wahl joined the faculty of the University of Michigan, and became Professor of Internal Medicine and Radiology in 1990. He co-directed and directed the General Nuclear Imaging Section and was Director of the Cancer Radiopharmaceutical Program within the University of Michigan Cancer Center.

In 2000, Dr. Wahl joined the Johns Hopkins University faculty as Director of the Division on Nuclear Medicine; Director of the Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Center; and Vice Chair for Technology and New Business Development within the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences.

Dr. Wahl's primary research has included the diagnosis and treatment of cancer through the use of specifically targeted radiopharmaceuticals. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Wahl has been involved in the development of "smart radiopharmaceuticals"-targeting tumors for therapy and spare healthy tissue. He is a leading expert in PET, and was cited by the Academy of Molecular Imaging as the first person in the United States to apply PET technology to accurately diagnose a broad array of human cancers. Dr. Wahl was one of the first to develop radio-immunotherapy for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Dr. Wahl also pioneered computer methods that joined PET and CT technologies to form "fusion" images of cancer, and has been involved in the early stage evaluation of PET CT fusion technology-an increasingly routine procedure at Johns Hopkins.

 

Dr. Wahl is the principal editor of a best selling imaging textbook, Principles and Practice of Positron Emission Tomography, and co-author of the II Atlas of Clinical PET Imaging". He currently serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine; Molecular Imaging and Biology; and Bioconjugates. He has authored over 220 peer-reviewed manuscripts, has served on several NIH study sections and currently serves on the Medicare Technology Advisory Committee. He has been chairman of American Board of Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Wahl has received multiple awards including the Berson and Yalow Award; Tetalman Award of the Society of Nuclear Medicine; The Hounsfield Award of the Society of Body CT; Academy of Molecular Imaging Distinguished Scientist Award and has been honored as the New Horizons Lecturer for the Radiological Society of North America.

 

Dr. Wahl is extremely honored to be the first recipient of the Henry N. Wagner, Jr., M.D. Professorship in Nuclear Medicine. He wishes to extend his thanks to Dr. Wagner for encouraging him to study PET imaging, and to Dr. Elias Zerhouni whose support and vision regarding nuclear medicine and PET were essential in establishing this professorship. He thanks his wife Sandy and his family who have unfailingly supported his professional endeavors and his mother Josephine, a firm supporter through the many phases of his education and training.

Dr. Richard Wahl was born in Waverly, Iowa and graduated as valedictorian from Wartburg College in Iowa in 1974 with a summa cum laude degree in Chemistry. He received his M.D. from Washington University School of Medicine in 1978, and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha. After internship at the University of California San Diego, he returned to St. Louis for Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine training at