It’s All About You!

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Kathy S. Thomas, MHA, CNMT, PET, FSNMMI-TS

JNMT content relies on the expertise of the nuclear medicine community to share the latest scientific findings, educational discussions to enhance a reader’s understanding of key topics, teaching case studies that demonstrate how imaging clarifies or pinpoints a specific diagnosis, and other fundamental discussions to support professional growth. Submissions come from a diverse group of authors from many countries and include physicians and scientists, radiopharmacists, technologists, and technologist educators. Annually, these manuscripts are reviewed to identify those written by technologists as the first author, and the “best of the best” are highlighted at the Technologist Section’s awards ceremony at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Annual Meeting (see a complete listing of best paper awards presented in Toronto in this issue). This year, thanks to the support of SNMMI-TS leadership and the Technologist Section’s Professional Development and Educational Fund, one additional category has been added to the award ceremony—the best student paper written by a student as the first author. We are excited to add this additional award for our student population to encourage young authors at a time in their career when everything is shiny and new and early name recognition might encourage future submissions. To support and encourage student submissions to JNMT, Mary Beth Farrell and I attended the Educators’ Forum during the SNMMI Annual Meeting to emphasize the benefits of submission to the attending educators and followed this with Mary Beth’s tried-and-true lecture to the students that submitted abstracts to the annual meeting titled, “How to Write a Manuscript.” With any luck, next year we will strike up the band and throw the beads when we award the best student papers in New Orleans!

Turning to this issue, once again we have a diverse collection of continuing education topics and scientific articles. Gonzalez et al. concludes the Clinical Trials Network Series with a discussion on conducting theranostic clinical trials (1). Straight from the 2023 “Back to Basics” session presented at the SNMMI Annual Meeting in Chicago, Julie Bolin reviews a study that has long been a staple in nuclear medicine, brain death scintigraphy (2). Finally, another blast from the past, the revival of dimercaptosuccinic acid imaging is discussed (3), followed by a renal cortical imaging practical protocol (4) for those who may need to refresh their protocol manuals or memories on this returning procedure. Do not miss the important discussion of SUV measurements between high-definition PET and standard PET imaging in non–small cell lung cancer patients highlighted on this issue’s cover (5). A wide selection of additional topics, including imaging, basic science, quality practice management, radiation safety, professional development, and teaching case studies are included with this issue for your review when time allows.

If you are interested in becoming an author or reviewer but do not know where to start or how to participate, please contact me at ksthomas0412{at}msn.com. Help is available!