Rodney J. Hicks MB BS (Hons), MD, FRACP, FAHMS

Professor Rod Hicks is a Professor of Medicine and Radiology at the University of Melbourne. He pioneered the use of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) in the assessment of cancer, and has introduced a number of novel PET tracers. When Professor Hicks joined Peter Mac in 1996, the PET program he founded was one of the first in the world to have a clinical focus. He oversaw the installation of the third PET scanner to arrive in Australia, and it was the first solely dedicated to cancer. In 2019 it has passed the milestone of 100,000 PET scans.

Professor Hicks holds numerous national and international research grants and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cancer Imaging, as well as serving on eight other editorial boards including Endocrine-Related Cancer. He has over 500 peer-reviewed publications. A major focus of his team’s clinical research has been to assess the impact of PET on patient management and prognostic stratification.

Professor Hicks is also actively involved in radionuclide therapy with a major focus on neuroendocrine tumours, and the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for this group of diseases. In 2015, Professor Hicks was inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In 2018, his Centre was the first outside of Europe to be recognised as a Centre of Excellence in the European Neuroendocrine Tumour Society Network.

Professor Hicks received the International Cancer Imaging Society’s top honour - The ICIS Gold Medal – in 2019 in recognition of his exceptional contribution to oncological imaging and to international education. His current work, supported with a Medical Research Future Fund Grant, includes developing a new and exciting theranostic agent that will open radionuclide therapy to a group of diseases that have terrible outcomes and limited treatment options currently.