TRIUMF's Medical Isotope Program: Why we should care!

Speaker

Dr. Thomas Ruth, From TRIUMF's Nuclear Medicine Division

Abstract

TRIUMF possesses the most powerful array of isotope producing accelerators in the world. Over the last several decades scientists at TRIUMF in collaboration with a broad array of researchers, locally, nationally and internationally have been developing the tools to help understand disease processes, find non-invasive diagnostic techniques, develop the ability to track the efficacy of disease treatment and ultimately provide better treatment modalities. This talk will provide examples of these efforts showing how they could impact your life.

Speaker's Biography

Thomas Ruth, PhD, is Emeritus Senior Research Scientist at TRIUMF and Emeritus Senior Scientist at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre. Dr. Ruth holds Adjunct Professorships in Chemistry at Simon Fraser University, Physics at the University of Victoria and Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is a leader in the production and application of radioisotopes for research in the physical and biological sciences. He has served on a multitude of national and international committees, including the US Institute of Medicine's Committee on Medical Isotopes (1995) and on the US National Academy of Science's Committee on the State of the Science in Nuclear Medicine (2009), the panel for the Production of Medical Isotopes without Highly Enriched Uranium (2010) and the Nuclear Physics Decadal Report 2010-2020 and the State of Molybdenum-99 Production and Progress toward Eliminating Use of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) (2015-2016).

He serves as an expert on radioisotope production for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He served on the Subcommittee of the Nuclear Science Advisory Committee’s (NSAC) Subcommittee on Isotopes for the Nuclear Physics Program of the US DOE (2009 and 2014); in a related appointment he is serving on a Subcommittee for NSAC to review the National Nuclear Safeguards Administration’s program for removing HEU from civilian use and the development of a domestic (US) source for Mo-99 . He has published more than 290 peer reviewed papers and book chapters. Dr. Ruth received a Masters of Arts in Nuclear Chemistry from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and his Ph.D. in nuclear spectroscopy from Clark University in Massachusetts.

He is the 2011 recipient of the Michael J. Welch Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine for his contributions to Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry. In 2014 the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) appointed Dr. Ruth to the Standing Advisory Group on Nuclear Applications (SAGNA). In 2015, along with 5 of his colleagues he received NSERC’s Brockhouse Award for their work in producing 99mTc using medical cyclotrons.

Reception

Reception to follow lecture. Please RSVP your attendance to Lorena Barker at lbarker@uoguelph.ca by March 29th, 2016.

The Winegard Lectureship in Physics

The Winegard Lectureship in Physics is supported by Dr. William Winegard to bring esteemed scholars to Guelph to enhance learning for faculty and students. Winegard says he was inspired to establish and endow the lectureships “out of appreciation of my long association with the University. I also have great passion for teaching and research and have always been grateful for the opportunities I experienced as a student to meet with and learn from visiting lecturers.” The talks are free and open to the public. Dr. Winegard is often called U of G’s “intellectual founder.” He came to Guelph three years after the University’s founding in 1964 and served as president until 1975.