Throughout the course of a distinguished career, Dr. Siegel's research has covered various applications of nuclear medicine – from diagnosing thrombosis and pulmonary embolism to detecting myocardial infarction. His nuclear medicine division was one of the first in the country to provide positron emission tomography (PET) as a clinical service. Over the last decade, Dr. Siegel's research has focused on the use of PET in cancer detection and tumor staging and in predicting and monitoring tumor response to treatment. He is the editor of over 30 books and a prolific writer, with more than 220 journal articles, review articles and book chapters to his credit. As an expert in the clinical uses of radiopharmaceuticals, Dr. Siegel has served as chairman of advisory committees to the Food and Drug Administration, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention.
Dr. Siegel's long-standing affiliation with Washington University dates to his matriculation as an undergraduate in 1962. He earned both his BA and MD degrees from Washington University, and also completed his medical internship and residency in diagnostic radiology and an NIGMS fellowship in nuclear medicine. He joined the University's faculty in 1973. Dr. Siegel, a professor of radiology and of medicine at Washington University School of Medicine, is a member of the Washington University Medical Center's Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center. Recognized among the top physicians in the U.S., he has received numerous awards, honors and fellowships
The de Hevesy Award is named for Georg Charles de Hevesy, who received the 1943 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in determining the absorption, distribution, metabolism, and elimination of radioactive compounds in the human body. His work led to the foundation of nuclear medicine as a tool for diagnosis and therapy, and he is considered the father of nuclear medicine. SNM has given the de Hevesy Award to honor groundbreaking work in the field of nuclear medicine each year since 1960.