Siemens Award for Excellence in Practice-Based Research

The purpose of the SNM-Siemens Award for Excellence in Practice-Based Research is to encourage interested authors to submit abstracts that demonstrate the economic value of molecular imaging including nuclear medicine in the daily patient management process and, ultimately, improved patient outcomes. This is especially important as many of our emerging applications and their utilization are limited by valid research studies and their impact on reimbursement and other factors.

To be considered for this new award, abstracts must be submitted to the Operations/Practice-Based/Outcomes Research category, under the General Clinical Specialties track. These papers should contain research objectives and/or results that evaluate the potential for SPECT and PET and other molecular imaging based technology including:

reducing costs for payers while increasing or maintaining quality of patient care
limiting costs for lengthy non-effective treatments
utilizing hybrid devices in a true dual modality use (e.g. PET/CT versus stand-alone CT)
better utilization of resources (real-estate, operators, etc)
case-based studies that may be used to address issues related to reductions in reimbursements (e.g. DRA-related reductions)

This award is an SNM initiative with Siemens acting as the official grantor. SNM intends to seek, evaluate, publish, and subsequently present, to an international audience, innovative practice-based investigations concerning the economic pressures and potential business solutions explored via scientific research.

Abstracts submitted for this award will undergo the same submission, review and session assignment processes as other SNM tracks and categories. The SNM Scientific Program Committee will be responsible for evaluating the content of submitted abstracts to determine their eligibility for this award, and will consequently select the winning presentations. A committee will select the key papers, and identify the award winners after the oral presentations are made.

Siemens Molecular Imaging commits to a restricted fund for this initiative of $15,000. The award recipient (presenting author) will receive a certificate + monetary prize, as listed below. All abstracts selected for the session hosting the Siemens Award for Excellence in Practice-Based Research will receive a monetary prize and a certificate, following the SNM Annual Meeting.

First Place: $5,000.00 + certificate (awarded to presenting author)
Second Place: $4,000.00 + certificate (awarded to presenting author)
Third Place: $2,000.00 + certificate (awarded to presenting author)
Honorable Mentions: Four (4) $1,000.00 Honorable Mentions will also be awarded, as well as complimentary registration for the 2009 SNM Annual Meeting in Toronto.

This award recognizes an investigator for originality, scientific methodology, and practical applications. Abstract must contain scientific examination on the economic value of practice- or evidence-based research in the field of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and Therapy.

Eligibility Criteria:

Investigators must submit to the Operations/Practice-Based/Outcomes Research category within the General Clinical Specialties track. This award is category-specific; only those abstracts submitted (or re-categorized) to this category will be considered.
Investigators must choose ?Oral or Poster? as the designated presentation type. ?Poster Only? submissions, as well as abstracts accepted for poster presentation, will not be considered.
Investigators are encouraged to submit supporting data to allow better evaluation of their work by SNM peer review teams. Supporting data may include 1 table and/or 1 image, and/or a set of references. Supporting data is neither publishable nor reproducible, and is used solely for the purpose of conducting abstract reviews by a qualified team of experts in the field.
Investigators can be within any profession associated with Nuclear Medicine and/or Molecular Imaging and Therapy. It is not required that the Presenting Author be a physician, scientist or pharmacist in order to submit an abstract for the Operations/Practice-Based/Outcomes Research category.
Investigators may be considered for multiple awards, but only one award will be given per investigator. The lead investigator (Presenting Author/Award Recipient) must present the abstract during the SNM 55th Annual Meeting to receive the award.
Candidate abstracts for the award will be judged after their scheduled oral abstract presentation during the SNM Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, June 14-18, 2008. Recipients of the Siemens Award for Excellence in Practice-Based Research will be announced during the Monday Plenary (June 16) in New Orleans, Louisiana.