Marty Pagel, PhD, has joined the Department of Medical Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as professor and is establishing a new translational research effort that spans the full spectrum of new contrast mechanisms and new imaging systems to characterize cancer and diseased tissues. This molecular imaging research employs chemistry, biochemistry, cancer biology, medical physics, advanced image analysis, and radiology to perform research from bench-to-bedside. Specifically, Pagel is advancing the field of MR imaging through MR fingerprinting techniques, as well as advancing novel imaging methods in PET/MRI, EPR imaging, and photoacoustic imaging, using each to interrogate characteristics of tissue such as pH, oxygenation, enzyme activity, and vascular perfusion.
These methods are developed in pre-clinical models of cancer and successful methods are translated to clinical patient imaging trials, especially to predict treatment outcomes before starting treatment, and to evaluate early responses to treatment soon after starting treatment. He has extended these imaging methods to evaluate the progression of wound healing along with treatments that accelerate healing. More recently, his lab has developed a new method for intraoperative imaging – where new chemical agents have been designed to make tumors turn black, which can then be easily viewed and removed by surgeons and can be exploited for thermoablation during surgery.
Pagel is an international leader in the field of molecular imaging, having organizational roles in societies including the World Molecular Imaging Society, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and the Imaging in 2020 meeting. He is Associate Editor for Radiology and is the current Editor-in-Chief for Molecular Imaging and Biology. Pagel has chaired and participated in more than 60 grant review panels that focus on molecular imaging research.
Pagel’s training was in physical chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis and University of California, Berkeley. Previous faculty positions include Indiana University focused on NMR spectroscopy, Case Western Reserve University focused on MRI, and at the University of Arizona focused on cancer imaging. He leaves his current position at the MD Anderson Cancer Center that has included clinical translation of molecular imaging. He has taught courses in chemistry, biomedical engineering and cancer biology, as well as workshops about scientific writing. He has also performed imaging research in industry at Monsanto and Pharmacia in St. Louis, MO.
When away from the lab, Marty enjoys jazz music, Green Bay Packers football games, and a variety of wilderness adventures.
For questions, please contact Catherine Showers – cnshowers@wisc.edu.