Vancouver, BC- Naomi P. Alazraki, MD from Emory University School of Medicine and the Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center in Atlanta has been selected to give the Taplin Lecture at the 2017
Meeting of the Western Regional Society of Nuclear Medicine to be held November 3-5, 2017 at the Western Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver, BC. 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 Alazraki received her bachelor’s degree from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY and her medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY. She interned in Pediatrics at the Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center in New York, followed by a residency in Pediatrics at the University Hospital in San Diego and a residency in Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at UCSD.
Dr. Alazraki has been practicing nuclear medicine for the last 40 years. She was on faculty at UCSD, 1971-’81, then moved to Utah to become Chief, Nuclear Medicine Service at the VA Medical Center and Professor of Radiology at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake. In 1986 she was appointed Co-Director, Division of Nuclear Medicine and later Director of Clinical PET at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. She also served as Chief of Nuclear Medicine for the VA Medical Center in Atlanta.
Dr. Alazraki has served the Society of Nuclear Medicine in many capacities including as President, 1990-91. She served on the Board of Directors of the Education and Research Foundation of the Society of Nuclear Medicine from 1995 to 2009 and, most recently, as Historian for the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Within the Western Region she chaired the Scientific Program Committee for the Western Regional Meeting in 1977, was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the Southern California Chapter (now Pacific Southwest Chapter) of the Society of Nuclear Medicine rising to President from 1980-1981. Alazraki has also been active with the American College of Radiology, American College of Nuclear Physicians, the Radiological Society of North America and the Academy of Radiology Research.
She also served the U.S. Government in the several important capacities including: NIH, Diagnostic Radiology Study Section Advisory Committee for the National Institute of Health, Chair of the Radiological Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee for the Food and Drug Agency and as a member of the Advisory Committee for Medical Uses of Isotopes for the NRC. For the Veteran’s Administration she was President of the National Association of VA Chiefs of Nuclear Medicine and the Chief Medical Director’s clinical and programs advisory council.
Dr. Alazraki has published more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles, 43 book chapters and Co-authored 3 books (Fundamentals of Nuclear Medicine which sold -50,000 copies), A Clinician’s Guide to Nuclear Medicine and A Clinician’s Guide to Nuclear Oncology and Nuclear Molecular Imaging. She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. She also holds American Board of Nuclear Medicine and American Board of Diagnostic Radiology certifications.
Dr. Alazraki has 3 daughters (1 art dealer, 1 pediatric radiologist and nuclear medicine physician, and 1 attorney) and 2 grandchildren. Her husband is Andrew Taylor, MD, internationally known for his expertise in renal nuclear medicine.