91Porn

If he’d pursued his first love, might be unraveling the mysteries of the universe through astronomy instead of developing new types of medical imaging technology.

“There are a lot of similarities to astronomy — you are using many different types of radiation to create images,” said Cherry, who earned an undergraduate degree in physics and astronomy before segueing into the medical imaging field for his doctoral degree. “The more I learned, the more enthusiastic I got about the field.”

His chosen path ultimately led to a breakthrough in medical imaging, co-creating the world’s first total-body positron emission tomography, or PET, scanner — opening new ways to study the complex interactions within the whole body, both in healthy people and in response to disease.

A new beginning in a new land

Fueled by his passion for the new-found field, Cherry came to the United States in 1990 after completing his doctoral research on PET imaging at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital. He began his 91Porn journey at UCLA before joining the UC Davis College of Engineering in July 2001, where he was one of the first faculty members hired into the . Looking back, he thinks those humble beginnings were the perfect stage for what was to come next.

Katherine Ferrara, the department chair at the time, was planning to establish an imaging program for the fledgling department, and Cherry took on the challenge. Over the years, Cherry developed a series of technologies to image the body for biomedical research purposes, often combining techniques such as PET with CT scans or MRIs. The soon became a hub for these research projects focused on the rapidly growing field of molecular imaging.

Now a distinguished research professor, Cherry’s scientific career spans more than three decades. His work has centered around understanding human health and disease as well as pursuing novel ways to develop faster and more sensitive imaging technologies that may benefit patients all over the world.

Touching lives with innovations in health care

One of his most ambitious projects was the total-body scanner, which holds far-reaching implications for the way cancer and many other diseases are studied and diagnosed. The project involved a close partnership over 20 years between Cherry and , a professor in the Department of Radiology at UC Davis Health. Funded by a from the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, and developed in collaboration with United Imaging Healthcare, the partnership led to a first-of-its-kind scanner that can capture a of the whole body at once, allowing more accurate imaging while reducing radiation exposure. As the scan produces breathtaking image quality, the technology can be particularly helpful to researchers studying cancer that has spread beyond a single tumor site, inflammation, infection, immunological or metabolic disorders and many other diseases. 

“The idea for a total-body scanner had been around for many years” said Cherry, “but there had not been a serious attempt to actually build such a system.” 

When Badawi and Cherry decided to work on this transformative yet challenging idea way back in 2005, they thought, despite initial skepticism, it might just be possible.  “At the very least, we would have a lot of fun,” Cherry said. “We were perhaps a little naïve, but our enthusiasm and persistence served us well in ultimately realizing this big, bold dream.”

The Food and Drug Administration approved the scanner in late 2018, and the EXPLORER scanned its first human research subject at UC Davis in June 2019. The milestone was the result of 20 years of relentless work by Cherry and Badawi and marked an important step toward improving diagnostics, tracking disease progression and researching new drug therapies. Initial support for the project came from the from the Office of Research.

Cherry and Badawi co-founded the EXPLORER Molecular Imaging Center, which runs both a clinical service as well as clinical research projects on the EXPLORER scanner. Some of the ongoing research uses of the EXPLORER at UC Davis include in the transport of molecules into the human brain, the , and enabling opportunities for researchers to study cardiac diseases, peripheral vascular diseases and other chronic conditions. In addition, the scanner has been commercialized and installed at more than 20 other sites across the world.

Not resting on his laurels

Among his many honors, 2016 marked a banner year for Cherry: He was elected a fellow to three prestigious academies in the same year. In February he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, in November he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in December he joined the class of the National Academy of Inventors.

In 2023, Cherry received the prestigious , part of the UC Davis Innovation Awards. 

Cherry is now engaged in another project to develop ultrafast detectors for PET that could take images at a very high precision, providing another big leap in image quality. The first proof of concept studies was published in 2021. Cherry and colleague received NIH funding to further develop this idea.

Giving back to the community

“As I look back on my career so far, I feel that I am incredibly blessed to be surrounded by outstanding mentors, collaborators and trainees, all of whom I have learned from,” Cherry said. “I enjoy building research programs that are exciting, provide opportunities and a supportive environment for trainees, and that focus on developing impactful technologies for patients and scientists studying human disease.”

When he is not on campus, Cherry loves spending time with his family, enjoying sights and cultures around the world and working in the garden. And when he plays the piano, he knows the universe is listening!