Why SNMMI Matters Even if you Aren't Attending
Dustin Osborne • May 30, 2026
SNMMI 2026: Los Angeles
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Why SNMMI 2026 Matters If You're Not in Los Angeles
By Dustin Osborne, PhD, DABSNM, DABR
Director, Molecular Imaging and Theranostics Research Program, UT Medical Center
Principal Investigator, Appalachian Radiotheranostics Coalition
Director, Molecular Imaging and Theranostics Research Program, UT Medical Center
Principal Investigator, Appalachian Radiotheranostics Coalition
The SNMMI Annual Meeting starts this weekend in Los Angeles. Eight thousand nuclear medicine and molecular imaging professionals from around the world. More than 150 scientific and continuing education sessions. Four days of everything happening in our field, compressed into the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Most of the people reading this aren't going.
Time from clinical duties and expenses related to travel are real considerations, and most community-based NM professionals don't have the institutional support to send staff to California for four days. That's part of the access gap ARC exists to close.
But here's the thing: what gets presented at SNMMI this week will shape what nuclear medicine looks like in your department two to three years from now. The sessions on the program aren't just abstract research. They're tips and tricks for your real-world operational playbook, insights on workforce development, dosimetry standards, and the regulatory updates that determine what community theranostics programs might be expected to implement. And if you're not there, most of that content may not reach you.
This post is the exception to that. I'm going to walk through the sessions I think matter most for community programs in the Appalachian corridor, explain why they're relevant, and tell you what we'll be bringing back to ARC's education platform after the meeting wraps Tuesday. And the meeting has virtual and on-demand options as well for folks that can't make the trip.
Find Your Sessions
Select your role to see the sessions most relevant to your practice.
Your priority is understanding what's changing in clinical practice, expanding access frameworks, and where the therapy pipeline is heading. These sessions map the national conversation on all three.
Must Watch
CE54: Theranostics — The Challenge and Privilege of Expanding Access
Tuesday, June 2 · 9:30–10:45 AM
Establishing a theranostics program, increasing accessibility, and the physician's role in patient access. This is essentially the ARC mission in session form.
High Priority
CE41: An Overview of Veterans Affairs NM and Theranostics Operations
Monday, June 1 · 2:15–3:30 PM
How to structure a multidisciplinary theranostics program and standardize RLT/PRRT/SIRT best practices across distributed sites. The VA model is the best real-world analog for community programs.
High Priority
CE23: Evolving Insights Into Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Toxicities
Session details in SNMMI app
Hematologic toxicity, organ dose thresholds, adaptive dosimetry. Critical for managing patients at community sites without immediate access to academic support.
Supporting
CE57: Basics of Cancer Biology and New Targets
Session details in SNMMI app
The pipeline beyond PSMA and DOTATATE. Girentuximab, brain tumor targets, GI applications. Where referral patterns are heading.
Future Watch
CE17 & CE27: AI in Theranostics
Session details in SNMMI app
AI-assisted dosimetry, response assessment, and treatment planning. Timeline for community-accessible tools is the question to track.
Your career trajectory in RPT is being formally defined this week. These sessions establish what competency looks like, how certification is structured, and what advanced practice means for your role.
Must Watch
TS10: Right Therapy, Right Training — Building Competency in Therapeutic Radiopharmaceutical Delivery
Monday, June 1 · 10:00–11:15 AM
Barriers to therapy education, strategies for underserved regions, and what competency actually looks like for RPT delivery. The session most directly relevant to ARC's workforce mission.
Must Watch
TS100–TS108: Technologist Therapy Certificate Program (including TS101 Hands-on Module)
Multiple sessions throughout the meeting
SNMMI is formalizing the certification pathway for RPT technologists. This is the credential structure that will matter for hospital credentialing and demonstrating staff readiness.
High Priority
TS05: Advanced Practice of NMTs in Modern Nuclear Medicine: A US/UK Joint Reflection
Session details in SNMMI app
What advanced practice looks like for technologists in RPT, and how expanded scopes of practice accelerate patient care. The UK comparison is informative.
High Priority
TS15: Law and Order: Radiation Safety Unit — Building a Culture of Radiation Safety
Session details in SNMMI app
Medical event reporting, root-cause analysis, corrective actions. The safety systems that new RPT programs must build, covered practically.
Supporting
CE28: What Do Patients Really Think? Understanding the Patient Perspective on Nuclear Medicine
Session details in SNMMI app
Patient communication, trust, and the cultural context of Appalachian communities. Community expansion is not only a technical problem.
The dosimetry standardization conversation is the one to track closely this week. What SNMMI coalesces around will shape what community programs are expected to implement. These sessions are where that consensus is forming.
Must Watch
CE66: Towards Standardized Tools and Techniques for Dosimetry-Guided Radiopharmaceutical Therapies
Tuesday, June 2 · 2:15–3:30 PM
Dosimetry infrastructure requirements, kidney and marrow dose limits, NucLex terminology and data models, computational decision-support tools. The field attempting to define what "doing dosimetry correctly" looks like.
Must Watch
Current and Future Roles of SPECT Imaging in Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: From Qualitative to Quantitative
Tuesday, June 2 · 9:30–10:45 AM (Non-CE)
The transition from qualitative post-therapy imaging to quantitative dosimetry input. Most community programs are still in the qualitative phase. This session maps the path forward.
High Priority
CE23: Evolving Insights Into Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Toxicities
Session details in SNMMI app
Marrow, kidney, and salivary gland dosimetry. Adaptive dosing and dose escalation frameworks. Directly relevant to how community programs manage patients.
High Priority
CE24: Imaging & Dosimetry of Novel Radionuclides — Challenges & Opportunities
Session details in SNMMI app
Alpha and Auger therapy dosimetry. If you're building infrastructure now, you need to know what the next generation of agents will require.
Supporting
CE45: Radiobiology Fundamentals for Radiopharmaceutical Therapy
Session details in SNMMI app
Why RPT is not simply radiation therapy with a radiopharmaceutical. Rigorous radiobiological grounding for treatment planning and toxicity management.
You don't need to understand the physics. You need to know what's coming for your patients and how to think about incorporating it into treatment planning. These sessions map that.
Must Watch
CE54: Theranostics — The Challenge and Privilege of Expanding Access
Tuesday, June 2 · 9:30–10:45 AM
The session that directly addresses patient accessibility. If your patients are currently traveling two hours for RPT, this session is about what needs to change and how fast it's changing.
High Priority
CE57: Basics of Cancer Biology and New Targets
Session details in SNMMI app
The pipeline beyond Pluvicto and Lutathera. Girentuximab for renal cell carcinoma, brain tumor targets, GI applications. Understanding what's coming is how you plan now.
High Priority
SS32: Genitourinary Radiotherapeutics
Session details in SNMMI app
Disease-specific science connecting directly to current and emerging RLT for urologic cancers. New data on patient selection and sequencing.
Supporting
CE26: Legislative and Regulatory Update
Session details in SNMMI app
What's changing in coverage, authorization, and regulatory pathways for RPT. Practical intelligence for treatment planning decisions.
Supporting
CE28: What Do Patients Really Think?
Session details in SNMMI app
Patient communication, trust, and participation in trial design. How patients in underserved communities experience and engage with nuclear medicine.
You need the operational playbook and the business case. These sessions cover program structure, quality frameworks, regulatory landscape, and workforce development — the decisions that determine whether a community program launches and sustains.
Must Watch
CE41: An Overview of Veterans Affairs NM and Theranostics Operations
Monday, June 1 · 2:15–3:30 PM
How to stand up a multidisciplinary theranostics program and standardize RLT/PRRT/SIRT best practices across a distributed network. The VA is the best real-world model for community programs at scale.
Must Watch
CE02: What Is New in Quality, Evidence, and Patient Safety
Session details in SNMMI app
The Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence Program and updated clinical guidance documents. What quality standards community programs are being held to.
High Priority
CE26: Legislative and Regulatory Update
Session details in SNMMI app
Regulatory barriers are consistently the top reason community programs don't launch. Understanding what's changing vs. what's still ambiguous is operational intelligence.
High Priority
TS10: Right Therapy, Right Training — Building Competency in Therapeutic Radiopharmaceutical Delivery
Monday, June 1 · 10:00–11:15 AM
The workforce development session. Staff readiness is your limiting factor. This session covers what competency looks like and how to build it.
Supporting
TS15: Law and Order: Radiation Safety Unit
Session details in SNMMI app
Building safety culture, medical event reporting, corrective action systems. The compliance infrastructure new programs must establish before first therapy.
Expanding Access Is the Central Theme
One session I am very interested in doesn't present new trial data or a novel radiopharmaceutical. It's CE54: "Theranostics: The Challenge and Privilege of Expanding Access," scheduled for Tuesday morning, June 2.
CE54 · June 2 · 9:30–10:45 AM
Theranostics: The Challenge and Privilege of Expanding Access
Session objectives: establishing a theranostics program, increasing patient accessibility, and understanding the impact nuclear medicine physicians can have on theranostics patients.
The objectives for this session lineup well with the ARC mission statement. Two years ago, this session would not have existed on the SNMMI program. The national conversation was still primarily about clinical trial results and approval pathways. The fact that SNMMI is now dedicating a full CE session to "how do we expand access" signals that the field has crossed a threshold. The efficacy question is settled. The question now is who gets access to these therapies, and how we build the infrastructure to make that possible beyond the academic centers that have been doing it.
For ARC, this session is validation for what we would like to achieve in the corridor. The question "should we be doing theranostics?" is becoming "what do we need to do to offer theranostics?" That's a different question, and it's one we're specifically equipped to help you answer.
Workforce and Competency Are the Real Bottlenecks
The workforce conversation runs through multiple sessions this year, and it's worth paying close attention to how SNMMI is framing it.
TS10 · June 1 · 10:00–11:15 AM
Right Therapy, Right Training: Building Competency in Therapeutic Radiopharmaceutical Delivery
Barriers to therapy education, strategies for expanding training in underserved regions, and what competency actually looks like for RPT delivery.
This is the one I'd point every technologist and therapy program director toward. The Technologist Therapy Certificate Program runs as a dedicated thread through the meeting (TS100–TS108, including a hands-on module), and this matters for community programs that need to demonstrate staff readiness to hospital administrators and credentialing bodies. SNMMI is formalizing what competency looks like for NM technologists in RPT. If you're a technologist wondering what your career looks like as theranostics expands, these sessions are drawing the map.
TS05 · Session Details in App
Advanced Practice of NMTs in Modern Nuclear Medicine: A US/UK Joint Reflection
Advanced practice roles for technologists in RPT, expanded scopes of practice, and what the UK experience tells us about accelerating patient care services. The international comparison is worth paying attention to.
The plain version: your technologists are the limiting factor in whether your program can deliver RPT safely and consistently. SNMMI is building the training infrastructure for that. ARC is building the regional access to that infrastructure. These are aligned.
Community Programs Need Operational Playbooks
This is where I think the SNMMI program is most useful for the corridor, and it's the category of content that never gets enough attention.
CE41 · June 1 · 2:15–3:30 PM
An Overview of Veterans Affairs NM and Theranostics Operations
How to structure a multidisciplinary theranostics program, standardize RLT/PRRT/SIRT best practices across distributed sites, and define the role of dosimetry and biomarkers in an operational context. The VA model is the best real-world analog for community programs.
This session is not about the VA specifically. It's about what it takes to stand up a program from scratch and standardize practices across a network with enormous variation in site capability. That's the closest analog to what community programs face.
CE02 · Session Details in App
What Is New in Quality, Evidence, and Patient Safety
The Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Center of Excellence Program and SNMMI clinical guidance documents front and center. For community programs working toward this designation, understanding what SNMMI is building into its quality framework this year matters for how you structure your program from the start.
CE26 · Session Details in App
Legislative and Regulatory Update
Regulatory barriers are consistently cited as one of the top reasons community programs haven't launched. Understanding what's changing vs. what remains ambiguous is operational intelligence for any program in development.
TS15 · Session Details in App
Law and Order: Radiation Safety Unit — Building a Culture of Radiation Safety
Medical event reporting, root-cause analysis, corrective action protocols. These are the startup concerns that trip up new programs. Not because programs want to cut corners, but because the systems for handling them correctly don't exist until someone builds them.
Dosimetry and Quantitative Imaging Are Moving Toward Standardization
This is my professional home turf, and the sessions here reflect a field in transition.
CE66 · June 2 · 2:15–3:30 PM
Towards Standardized Tools and Techniques for Dosimetry-Guided Radiopharmaceutical Therapies and Informed Clinical Decision Making
Dosimetry infrastructure requirements, kidney and marrow dose limits for clinical trial design, NucLex terminology and data models, and computational decision-support tools. The session where the field attempts to coalesce around what "doing dosimetry correctly" looks like for community programs.
At UTMC, we operate Torch dosimetry as standard of care for all therapy patients. Dosimetry is not the norm nationally, and there are legitimate questions about which dosimetry approaches are scalable to community settings. What comes out of CE66 will shape those answers.
Non-CE · June 2 · 9:30–10:45 AM
Current and Future Roles of SPECT Imaging in Radiopharmaceutical Therapy: From Qualitative to Quantitative
The movement from post-therapy SPECT as a qualitative check to quantitative dosimetry input. Most sites doing RPT today are still in the qualitative phase. This session maps the path forward, and it matters whether you're there for the CE credit or not.
CE23 · Session Details in App
Evolving Insights Into Radiopharmaceutical Therapy Toxicities
Hematologic toxicity, organ dose thresholds, marrow/kidney/salivary gland dosimetry, adaptive dosing, dose escalation. For community programs managing patients without immediate access to academic consultation, understanding toxicity management and its dosimetry context is patient safety, not just academic interest.
CE24 · Session Details in App
Imaging & Dosimetry of Novel Radionuclides: Challenges & Opportunities
Alpha therapy, Auger therapy, and the imaging challenges they create. If you're building infrastructure now, you want to know what dosimetry and imaging demands the next generation of agents will create.
The Horizon: AI, New Targets, and Patient-Centered Theranostics
A few sessions worth flagging that sketch where the field is going rather than where it is.
CE17 & CE27 · Session Details in App
AI in Theranostics: Toward Clinical and Translational (CE17) and AI for Optimization of Theranostics (CE27)
AI-assisted dosimetry, response assessment, treatment planning, and trial design. Not science fiction. The question is how fast these tools move from academic implementation to something community programs can actually use. SNMMI 2026 will give some indication of that timeline.
CE45 & CE57 · Session Details in App
Radiobiology Fundamentals for RPT (CE45) and Cancer Biology and New Targets (CE57)
CE45 is for anyone who still thinks RPT is just "radiation therapy with a radiopharmaceutical." It isn't. CE57 maps the pipeline expanding beyond PSMA and DOTATATE: girentuximab for RCC, brain tumor targets, GI applications. The targets we're covering in Roanoke on June 26 are part of this pipeline.
CE28 · Session Details in App
What Do Patients Really Think? Understanding the Patient Perspective on Nuclear Medicine
Community expansion is not only a technical problem. Patient communication, trust, trial participation, and the specific cultural context of Appalachian communities all shape whether patients actually access the therapies we're trying to make available. The field is starting to take this seriously. So are we.
What This Means for ARC
SNMMI 2026 is, in its structure and session mix, confirming something we've believed since we wrote the Mars Shot grant: the field is ready to expand beyond academic centers, and the limiting factor is education, training, operational infrastructure, and workforce development.
Every session I've highlighted has a direct line to something ARC is doing or planning. CE54 is our mission stated plainly. TS10 is our workforce rationale. CE41 is our operational model. CE66 is our dosimetry standard. CE28 is our community engagement imperative.
We'll be following the meeting closely through Tuesday and publishing a post-SNMMI recap next week. That recap will focus on what came out of these sessions, what it means for the corridor, and how it shapes ARC's educational priorities for the second half of the year, including the Roanoke workshop on June 26.
If you're attending SNMMI virtually or in person and want to compare notes on any of these sessions, reach out at dosborne@utmck.edu.
The meeting is happening in Los Angeles this weekend and real work is happening in Appalachia. We're making sure those two things stay connected.
What sessions or topics from SNMMI 2026 would you want us to cover in our recap? Drop a comment below or send us a message. If you're attending and see something that directly affects community theranostics programs, we want to hear about it.
By Dustin Osborne
•
June 13, 2026
By Dustin Osborne
•
May 22, 2026
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