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, and an Associate Director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging. 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 70 papers and book chapters, and has been granted over 20 patents, related to these discoveries. Dr. van Dam is also 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 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).