image: Jean-Luc C. Urbain, MD, PhD, Named President of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
Credit: Image courtesy of SNMMI.
NEW ORLEANS—Jean-Luc C. Urbain, MD, PhD, FASNC, professor of Radiology/Nuclear Medicine and Medicine, has been named president of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI). SNMMI introduced a new slate of officers during its 2025 Annual Meeting, held June 21-14 in New Orleans.
“As SNMMI president, I plan to focus on bringing and integrating radiopharmaceutical theranostics into the clinic to benefit as many patients as possible. This will require an emphasis on research, government approvals, education, training, quality and safety of practice issues, and reimbursement concerns,” stated Urbain. “I look forward to working with all SNMMI members, stakeholders, and patient communities to achieve these goals.”
Urbain will also continue to strengthen SNMMI’s outreach to the global nuclear medicine community by focusing on underrepresented professionals, facilitating their participation in SNMMI activities. Promoting SNMMI at the national and international levels will be another top priority for Urbain as he works to increase the society’s visibility, membership, and financial support.
Urbain received his medical degree from the University of Louvain Medical School in Brussels, Belgium, where he also completed residencies in Medicine and Medical Imaging/Nuclear Medicine. Urbain was a fellow at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned a doctoral degree from the Temple University Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology. He is recognized as a Health Care Executive Management diplomate (Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio), an Academic Management diplomate (Harvard Macy Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Ivey Business School, London, Ontario, Canada), and an American College of Physicians Executive diplomate, Certified Physician Executive (Tampa, Florida).
Over his 35-plus year career, Urbain has held many academic appointments at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, Temple University in Philadelphia, University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, and most recently as Nuclear Radiology and Nuclear Cardiology Fellowship Program Director at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His hospital appointments include positions at Catholic University of Louvain; CHGH University Affiliated Hospital in Hornu, Belgium; Temple University Hospital; Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Cleveland Clinic Foundation; St. Joseph’s Health Care, London; Health Sciences Centre & University of Western Ontario; VA Medical Center – Milton Hershey Penn State Medical College in Lebanon, Pennsylvania; Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center; Roswell Park Cancer Center, and Brantford General, Pembroke Regional, and Stratford General Hospitals in Ontario, where he currently serves as a staff physician in addition to his consulting activities for academic centers.
Within SNMMI, Urbain has served in multiple roles in addition to his most recent post as president-elect. He was a member of the Nominating Committee and served as chair of the Global Initiative Committee. Urbain currently chairs the Committee on Chapters and is a member of the Committee on Outreach Healthcare Administrators Workgroup; Committee on Bylaws; Therapy Strategic Plan Task Force; Quality, Evidence, and Patient Safety Committee; Center of Excellence Task Force, and Therapy Center of Excellence Task Force; he also serves as a Radiopharmaceuticals Center of Excellence reviewer. He was a member of the Eastern Great Lakes Chapter of SNMMI and served as its president from 2010-2011.
Additionally, Urbain is an active consultant for and participant in the Lancet Oncology Commission Report on Theranostics and the International Atomic Energy Agency. In the past, he served as president of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine & Biology, vice president of the Canadian Neuroendocrine Tumour Society, co-chair of the Waiting Time Alliance, president of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine, and secretary of the Belgian Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Urbain is a member of the Radiological Society of North America, American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, and European Association of Nuclear Medicine. He received the Homi Jehangir Bhabha Award Honorary Degree in 2007 from the Society of Nuclear Medicine, India, and the GE Radiant Fund from the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine in 2006. Urbain has published about 100 journal articles and 15 book chapters and has given more than a thousand invited speaker presentations. He is co-editor of the international outreach ePatient magazine.
Other SNMMI officers elected for 2025-26 are Heather Jacene, MD, Boston, Massachusetts, as president-elect and Gary Ulaner, MD, PhD, FSNMMI, Laguna Hills, California, as vice president-elect. SNMMI Technologist Section officers for 2025-26 are Cybil Nielsen, MBA, CNMT, FSNMMI-TS, Long Beach, Mississippi, as president and Shannon Youngblood, EdD, MSRS, CNMT, RT(CT), Greenwell Springs, Louisiana, as president-elect.
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About the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is an international scientific and medical organization dedicated to advancing nuclear medicine, molecular imaging, and theranostics—precision medicine that allows diagnosis and treatment to be tailored to individual patients in order to achieve the best possible outcomes. For more information, visit snmmi.org.