Monterey, CA: Dominique Delbeke, MD, PhD from Vanderbilt University in Nashville has been selected to give the Taplin Lecture at the 2018 Meeting of the Western Regional Society of Nuclear 
Medicine to be held October 26-28, 2018 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Monterey, California, The Memorial Lecture is named after George V. Taplin, MD, distinguished physician and a pioneer in the development of nuclear medicine as a clinical specialty. His career in medical research spanned more than four decades and was devoted to developing new diagnostic procedures for better patient care.
Doctor Delbeke is Professor and past-Director of Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. She is also Assistant Professor of Pathology in Vanderbilt’s Department of Pathology and has served as a consultant to the Department of Nuclear Medicine for the Tennessee Valley Veterans Administration.
Doctor Delbeke pursued her Medical Degree and a PhD from 1971-1978 at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. This was followed by a residency in Clinical Pathology from 1978-1979 at the Laboratory of Clinical Chemistry, Hospital St. Pierre and a second residency in Clinical Pathology from 1979-1982 at the Department of Clinical Pathology, Hospital Erasme in Brussels.
In 1982, Doctor Delbeke moved to the United States to become Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine from 1982-1984 and then Clinical Fellow in Pathology in the Department of Clinical Pathology at Yale from 1984-1985. From 1985-1986 she was a resident in Pathology at Yale. In 1986 Doctor Delbeke moved to Vanderbilt in Nashville for a residency in Nuclear Medicine from 1986-1988 and a residency in Pathology from 1988-1990.
Following her residencies, Doctor Delbeke received a joint appointment as Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Science’s Division of Nuclear Medicine and Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at Vanderbilt from 1990 – 1995 while simultaneously serving as Assistant Professor at the Veteran’s Administration. From 1995-2001 she served as Associate Professor of the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and in 2002 was appointed the rank of Professor with tenure.
Delbeke has been a member of a number of medical organizations but recently concentrating on nuclear medicine. She is currently a member of the American College of Radiology, the Radiological Society of North America, the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology and the American College of Nuclear Physicians. She joined the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging in 1987 and has been very active ever since. From 1999-2004 she served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Nuclear Medicine (JNM) and, after serving in many different leadership positions, including President of the Society, she served as Editor in Chief of the JNM from 2012-2016.
Delbeke has served on the American Board of Nuclear Medicine from 2004 to 2010, and again in 2011-2012. She served on SNMMI House of Delegates since 2002, was a member of the Board of Directors from 2004-2007, was elected Vice President-Elect from 2008-2010, elevated to President-Elect in 2008-2009 and Society President in 2010-2011. Subsequently, she was appointed Editor in Chief of the JNM. Concurrently she served on many boards, committees and commissions for the Society including a total of five years on the Board of Directors for the Education and Research Foundation. Most recently she was awarded the Presidential Distinguished Educator award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. She has been very active collaborating with the EANM and with international outreach in general.
She has become one of six female professors in the department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and has co-edited five textbooks, given lectures at more than 100 national and 38 international meetings.
For the Southeastern Chapter of the SNMMI, Delbeke served as Secretary from 1994-1996, an elected Council member from 1996-1999, Treasurer from 1999-2001, President Elect from 2001-2003 and President from 2003-2004.
At a personal level, she enjoys spending time at her farm where she lives enjoying nature, her cats and horses. Most of all, she enjoys time with her two children, Cerine and Cedric Jeanty and their spouses, her three grand-daughters from Cerine: Inca, Izelle, and Cleo Garcia-Jeanty; and one grandson from Cedric: Case. They all live in the San Francisco area. She is very proud of their accomplishments. Cerine graduated from her general surgery residency at UCSF, and Cedric is a successful engineer from Caltech who has led the research and development section of the Sunpower Company for several years.
Dr. Taplin was the author of over two hundred and fifty scientific papers and presented over fifty scientific teaching exhibits. His first contributions in medical research were directed to treatment of pneumonia in the 1930s and the improvement of penicillin therapy during World War II, but he became best known for the development of new radioisotope diagnostic techniques, work that continued from 1947 to within ten days of his death. His contributions in medicine were recognized by numerous awards and honors. He was president of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in 1969-70 and received the Nuclear Pioneer Award from that society in 1975. He was selected as California Scientist of the Year in 1976 by the California Museum of Science and Industry. In June 1979, he was named to give the prestigious Fleischner Honor Lecture for 1980, but did not live to do this.
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