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SNM is firmly committed to a leadership role in the evolution of nuclear medicine by establishing the Molecular Imaging Center of Excellence (MICoE). In the past year, the MICoE has made remarkable progress toward the ambitious goals that were set at 2 summit meetings called to explore the possibilities of these new imaging technologies. Our strategic goals remain:
* Provide indispensable resources for education, knowledge exchange, training, and networking;
* Advocate for molecular imaging and therapy;
* Educate and promote collaboration with referring physicians and patient groups;
* Support innovations in translational research; and
* Position molecular medicine as an essential tool in providing the highest standards of patient care around the world.
To build our capacity to achieve these goals, we have developed an infrastructure that includes a staff of 3 working at SNM headquarters, set up the governance structure of the center and held our first elections, and are reaching out to the molecular imaging and therapeutic communities.
We discovered that to move forward in a new field, it is essential to first agree on a definition of molecular imaging that would guide our actions. David Mankoff, MD, chair of the Definitions Task Force, authored the Molecular Imaging Update in the June Newsline (J Nucl Med. 2007;48[6]: ^sup 18^N), providing a definition that has made the decisionmaking process far clearer. Here is the short version:
Molecular imaging is the visualization, characterization, and measurement of...