Dr. David Piwnica-Worms is the Gerald Dewey Dodd, Jr., Endowed Distinguished Chair in Diagnostic Imaging, Division of Diagnostic Imaging, at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is Professor and also serves as Chair, Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Dr. Piwnica-Worms has been engaged in biochemistry and molecular imaging research for 40 years. His laboratory focuses on the development and use of non-invasive imaging strategies to advance the understanding of human health and disease, with a focus on cancer and inflammation. A pioneer in the field of molecular imaging, Dr. Piwnica-Worms created and applied innovative genetically-encoded reporters to visually capture and dynamically measure biological processes such as protein-protein interactions, signaling cascades, and drug action in live cells, living animals, and humans at the molecular and cellular level using remote imaging detection methods, such as positron emission tomography (PET), fluorescence, and bioluminescence imaging. His lab has also discovered and driven novel radiopharmaceuticals and antibodies into the clinic for imaging applications and radioligand therapy.
Dr. Piwnica-Worms was an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association, a Research Scholar of the Radiological Society of North America and received the Stauffer Award from the Association of University Radiologists. He is a founding member and former President of the Society for Molecular Imaging and is recipient of the Society for Molecular Imaging Lifetime Achievement Award. He serves on committees of the American Association for Cancer Research, is a member of several External Advisory Boards of major Comprehensive Cancer Centers, was an Associate Editor for Cancer Research and is a Scientific Editor for Cancer Discovery. Dr. Piwnica-Worms has been honored with a Distinguished Alumnus Award from Duke University Medical School, is a recipient of the Texas STARS Faculty Award, is an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Elected Member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Dr. Piwnica-Worms earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and received his medical and doctorate degrees as a Medical Scientist Training Program awardee at Duke University Medical School. He completed residency training in diagnostic radiology and a fellowship at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, followed by his first faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School. Thereafter, for two decades, Dr. Piwnica-Worms was at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he was Director of the BRIGHT Institute and the Molecular Imaging Center, driving inter-disciplinary innovation in molecular imaging until 2013, when he was recruited to the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
