Society News Archive

1 December 2014
Medical Isotope Shortage Briefing

An informational briefing addressing medical isotope shortages will be held 2 December 2014 from noon to 1:30 p.m. at 2325 Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. The briefing is sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and Research!America.

Medical isotopes are critically powerful tools for medical diagnosis and treatment, including cardiac stress tests and radiation therapy. Annually tens of millions of nuclear medicine procedures allow doctors to accurately diagnose diseases. In recent years, supply shortages resulting from aging reactors, international supply chains, nonproliferation efforts, and other hurdles have forced medical centers to alter their plans of care. In this informational briefing, panelists from the public, private, and medical sectors will share the ways they are addressing medical isotope supply concerns.

The moderator is The Honorable Michael N. Castle, Research!America. The panel is:

  • Darrell Fisher, Health Physics Society
  • James Harvey, Northstar Medical Radioisotopes LLC
  • Antonio "Tony" Sastre, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
  • Douglas Van Nostrand, Nuclear Medicine at MedStar Washington Hospital Center

The event description page contains a link to the registration page.

This briefing is part of the ACS Science & the Congress Project, which conducts congressional briefings that provide opportunities for members of Congress and their staffs, and the wider science policy community, to gain a greater knowledge of the science involved in numerous public policy issues.