Good morning. My name is Eitan Tadmor and I am
pleased to welcome you to IPAM workshop on "Imaging in Medicine and
Neurosciences"
The workshop is part of IPAM quarter long program
on “Geometrically Based Motions”. It complements IPAM first quarter program on
“Functional Genomics”. Together with a series of one-week workshops, these two
quarter-long interdisciplinary programs form the core activity of the Institute.
IPAM stands for the
"Institute for Pure & Applied Mathematics".
It is the recent (and indeed-
the only) addition to the existing NSF Math institutes in Berkeley and
Minnesota, that was born in response to a call for proposals made three years
ago. The goal is to create an environment that will encourage the interaction
between mathematicians – both pure and applied, and researchers from other
scientific disciplines. In this sense of interdisciplinary atmosphere, the
current workshop on Imaging in Medicine and Neurosciences reflects IPAM vision
in action. We hope you will agree with us about at least one aspect of this
encouraging environment, after spending the next few days at the newly renovated
IPAM building designed by the world renowned architect Frank Gehry.
The workshop was organized
together with Simon Cherry, Paul Thomspon and Arthur Toga from UCLA School of
medicine and Guillermo Sapiro from University of Minnesota, and I would like to
thank them for their work in organizing this meeting. IPAM staff, led by Eilish
Hathaway is also acknowledged for a superb work, and I would like to address any
of you with special requests to IPAM staff for help.
As a new NSF institute, IPAM
is committed to disseminate its activities in several ways, and the website is
one them. We would like to post this week lectures so I am asking the speakers
-- please give the IPAM staff the copy of your slides/power-point presentation
or any other relevant material you find appropriate.
We also need feedback, so I
am asking all participants -- please fill in the evaluation form before leaving.
We hope you will find the time you spend here at IPAM rewarding and
constructive.
Let me conclude with brief
overview of this week schedule.
On the social side, a
reception is planned today 5:30 at the IPAM building for the registered
participants.
On Tuesday, we schedule a
Lunch with the members of the Math Department. The Department is nearby and you
are welcome to visit.
The Math department is our
closest ally on campus, but not the only one -- with its interdisciplinary
vision, IPAM found strong allies in the various academic units of the UCLA
Campus, in the College of Physical Sciences, as well as Life Sciences and the
Medical school.
And while we are at this,
this is a good opportunity to take advantage of a main thing LA has to offer --
the great weather. (Unfortunately the weather is not that great today so let me
point out yet another advantage LA has to offer these days over the rest of
California – electricity…and may the power be with you). In any event, I would
also like to encourage you to visit the beautiful UCLA campus during the period
you are staying here.
Let us now turn then to
today's program.
It gives me a great pleasure
to introduce to today’s keynote speaker, Professor Michael Phelps.
Professor Phelps is the
co-inventor of Positron Emission Tomography known as PET which had a
revolutionary impact on the developments in molecular medicine. The use of PET
has evolved into a full spectrum of imaging ranging from the macro to the micro
-- from detecting cancer in imaging of the entire body to novel new techniques
to image gene expression. We feel that IPAM could and should help to motivate
similar interdisciplinary revolutions in the mathematical sciences . I know that
mathematics has a lot to offer in return in such a partnership.
Dr. Phelps is Norton Simon
Professor and Chairman of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology in UCLA, Professor of
Biomathematics and Associate Director of the Laboratory of Structural Biology &
Molecular Medicine, Chief of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Director of
the UCLA Crump Institute for Biological Imaging.
The author of more than 500
scientific publications, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences,
Phelps awards list includes the Ernest Lawrence Presidential award in the Field
of Atomic energy, the Gold Medical Award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the
Enrico Fermi Presidential award, and his most recent GM Award…
Professor Phelps was an
invited speaker at IPAM inauguration and I am therefore particularly pleased to
welcome him back as an IPAM friend, who will speak today on “A new world of
molecular imaging: a gift from mathematics”
Professor Phelps, the floor
is yours.
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