Michael Phelps, Ph.D.

Advisor, Indi Molecular
Norton Simon Professor and Chair

UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Director, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging

Michael Phelps is the Norton Simon Professor and Chair of the UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology and Director of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging.

Dr. Phelps is the inventor of PET imaging technology, which is used in research to study the biological basis of normal organ function in health and the biological transitions to disease and to guide new therapies in academia research and pharmaceutical companies. PET is used in clinical practice in the early detection, characterization and evaluation of the therapeutic responses in cancer, neurological disorders and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Phelps has received numerous awards and honors, including: the Pasarow Foundation Award, the Rosenthal Foundation Award, the George Von Hevesy Prize (won twice; Von Hevesy won the Nobel Prize for the principles of tracer method), the Sarah L. Poiley Memorial Award, Kettering Prize, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation; the Ernest O. Lawrence Presidential Award, the Paul Aebersold Award, appointment as chair of the Nobel Symposium, election to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, Enrico Fermi Presidential Award from President Clinton and election to the National Academy of Sciences. He has published 720 peer-reviewed scientific articles and four textbooks.