R. Michael van Dam

R. Michael van Dam, Ph.D. is a Professor and Vice chair in the Department of Molecular & Medical Pharmacology at the University of California, Los Angeles, an Associate Director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, and Director of the Crump Cyclotron and Radiochemistry Technology Center.

His research focuses on developing novel technologies to increase access to radiopharmaceuticals (e.g., PET imaging tracers and theranostic agents), including microscale approaches for multi-step radiosynthesis, high-throughput methods for radiopharmaceutical development, and high-sensitivity techniques for radiochemical analysis.

He has published over 85 papers and book chapters, and has been granted nearly 30 patents, related to these discoveries. 

Dr. van Dam is a co-founder of Sofie, Inc., which has commercialized the ELIXYS FLEX/CHEM and PURE/FORM radiosynthesis platform based on technology and control software developed in his laboratory.  He is also a co-founder of DropletPharma Corp, which is commercializing microscale radiochemistry technologies developed in his lab.

He received his B.Sc. in Engineering Physics from Queen's University (Kingston, ON, Canada), M.A.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON, Canada), and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA, USA).