Jeonbuk National University (JBNU)'s Department of Nuclear Medicine has demonstrated the nation's leading research competitiveness in the field of nuclear medicine. This is because, at the recent academic conference of the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine, the university received the highest number of awards among universities nationwide.

Notably, the Department of Nuclear Medicine had Professors Jeong Hwan‑jeong and Kim Dong‑wook selected for the Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine's Academic Promotion Award, which honors researchers with outstanding research achievements over the past five years. Professor Jeong was recognized for research in molecular imaging and therapy, and Professor Kim for research on the development of molecular imaging radiopharmaceuticals.

Professor Jeong recently developed a material in which both an anticancer drug and a therapeutic radionuclide are incorporated into a chitosan polymer. He is conducting research on a breakthrough liver cancer treatment using this material, attracting attention from the academic community. Professor Kim has also gained attention for developing a peptide‑based radiopharmaceutical for imaging diagnosis that can detect hard‑to‑treat cancers such as breast and pancreatic cancer at an early stage.

At this Korean Society of Nuclear Medicine conference, JBNU presented a total of 23 research results across clinical nuclear medicine, molecular imaging and therapeutic research, and radiopharmaceutical research — the second‑largest number of presentations after Seoul National University.

Among 17 sessions in total, JBNU was recognized for excellence in a variety of areas — including PET‑CT tumor imaging diagnosis for lung metastases, differentiation between cancer and inflammation using PET, molecular imaging with nanomaterials, and PET radiopharmaceutical synthesis — receiving seven Outstanding Oral Presentation Awards and one of four Poster Awards, becoming the university with the most awards.

Professor Son Myung‑hee, Head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine, said, "Our Department of Nuclear Medicine is enhancing the university's research standing as its outstanding capabilities in clinical and basic‑translational research have been recognized by the nuclear medicine and molecular imaging communities. As a university conducting leading research, we will continue to devote ourselves to research in related fields."