Dr. Peter Conti is a Professor at the University of Southern California with academic appointments in the Departments of Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Pharmaceutical Sciences. He received his medical degree from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He is board certified in Nuclear Medicine (ABNM) and Diagnostic Radiology (ABR). Dr. Conti has been the Director of the USC PET Imaging Science Center since its inception in 1991. His research activities have focused on the development of novel PET and hybrid imaging agents for diagnostic and theranostic applications in cancer and other diseases.
For the Elmaleh Annual Lecture, Dr. Conti was invited to speak about how molecular imaging has become an essential component of cancer research and patient management. Various modalities constitute the field of molecular imaging, including PET, SPECT, Optical imaging, MR and others. Preclinical and clinical applications in molecular imaging are heavily dependent on the use of either exogenous or endogenous biologically relevant molecules and contrast agents. Dr. Conti spoke about how targeting of imaging agents to disease specific processes is highly relevant for development of useful diagnostic tools as well as for probing the molecular basis of disease.