The Department of Nuclear Medicine at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow, marked its 37th Foundation Day with a three-day academic and alumni programme focused on the future of precision healthcare and theranostics.
Held from September 18 to 20, the celebrations brought together alumni, faculty, healthcare professionals and experts from India, Europe and the US.
The programme began with an Alumni Day on September 18, allowing former students to reconnect with their teachers, colleagues and the department. The gathering also reflected the professional network built by the department over 37 years.
The celebrations culminated in the 37th Foundation Day International Symposium on September 19 and 20 at the Dr SS Agarwal Auditorium. The theme—“Precision Healthcare Through Nuclear Medicine: Imaging Biology, Treating Disease”—highlighted the expanding role of nuclear medicine beyond diagnosis, particularly in selecting patients for targeted therapies and monitoring treatment response.
Experts discussed advances in theranostics, radiopharmaceuticals and radiochemistry, dosimetry-guided radionuclide therapy, PSMA radioligand therapy, neuroendocrine tumour theranostics, peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT), FAPI imaging, alpha therapy and emerging molecular targets. Sessions also covered nuclear cardiology, differentiated thyroid cancer and total-body PET/CT.
A key attraction was the Foundation Day Oration by Prof Med Aju Pazhenkottil, Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Cardiac Imaging, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, on “Beyond the Visible: Precision Cardiovascular Medicine through Imaging.”
{{/usCountry}}A key attraction was the Foundation Day Oration by Prof Med Aju Pazhenkottil, Senior Consultant Cardiologist, Cardiac Imaging, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, on “Beyond the Visible: Precision Cardiovascular Medicine through Imaging.”
{{/usCountry}}The Foundation Day ceremony included lamp lighting, addresses by institute leadership, plantation and felicitation of former department heads. Former faculty members Prof BK Das and Dr AB Sewatkar were also remembered.
The department acknowledged the contribution of its current faculty, including Prof PK Pradhan, Prof Sukanta Barai, Prof Amitabh Arya, Prof Manish Dixit, Dr Manish Ora, Dr Aftab Hasan Nazar and Dr Praveen, along with other faculty and staff.
The director of PGI Dr Radha Krishna Dhiman said, the department is working with a renewed focus on molecular imaging, radiopharmaceutical research, theranostics and patient-centred precision healthcare, while strengthening national and international academic collaborations.