Congratulations to Lars Furenlid, PhD, appointed as the inaugural Harry H. and Catherine C. Barrett Endowed Chair in Optical Sciences for Cancer Imaging. This professorship resides in Optical Sciences and furthers the depth of collaborative relationships between the College of Optical Sciences and our Department of Medical Imaging.
Professor Furenlid has 34 years of experience working in the field of x-ray and gamma-ray imaging and spectroscopy. After completing his PhD training in Physical Chemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1988 and joining Brookhaven National Laboratory as a post doc, Dr. Furenlid was hired as a staff physicist at the National Synchrotron Light Source at BNL.
In 1998, Dr. Furenlid moved to the University of Arizona to help found the NIH-funded P41 Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging, and switched research direction towards developing methods and instrumentation for biomedical imaging with optical, x-ray, and gamma-ray photons. He currently holds appointments in the Wyant College of Optical Sciences and the Department of Medical Imaging, a joint appointment in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and is a member of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. Dr. Furenlid teaches graduate courses in the Image Science field in Optical Sciences and leads an active research group with current projects focused on technology development for molecular imaging of the human brain and heart, as well as novel synthesis methods for contrast agents aimed at detecting and monitoring cancer. In 2013, he was awarded the IEEE Radiation Instrumentation Outstanding Achievement award for his work on detectors. In addition to his research and teaching, he serves as Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medical Imaging.