Kurt R. Zinn, DVM, Ph.D., vice chair of Translational Research in the Department of Radiology at the UAB School of Medicine, was named a winner of the 2015 Distinguished Investigator Award by the Academy of Radiology Research. Zinn is one of 37 medical imaging researchers nationally to receive the 2015 Distinguished Investigator Award, given annually to recognize and celebrate high levels of achievement in the field of academic imaging research. Established in 1995, the Academy of Radiology Research is an alliance of 27 professional imaging societies and 44 academic research departments, representing the scientific community in advocacy of medical imaging research.
A UAB faculty member for 20 years, Zinn’ s research focuses on the development of molecular imaging approaches for cancer diagnosis and treatment monitoring, and especially technologies that have the potential to translate to human applications. He is director of the division of Advanced Medical Imaging Research in the Department of Radiology, and director of both the Laboratory of Multimodality Imaging and the Small Imaging Shared Facility. He also chairs the Radioisotope and Radiation Safety Committee and the Cyclotron Facility Committee— groups that provide regulatory oversight for new PET tracers for research and clinical imaging.
Zinn completed his undergraduate, veterinary and graduate education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He worked at the UMC Research Reactor for nine years before joining the UAB faculty in 1995.