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Dr. Michael J. Welch is co-director of the division of radiological sciences and a professor of radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine's Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in St. Louis, Missouri.  Among his many honors are: the Georg Charles de Hevesy Nuclear Medicine Pioneer Award; the Paul C. Aebersold Award; the American Chemical Society's St. Louis, Midwest and National Awards for Nuclear Chemistry; and the Cassen Award. He has served for many years on the editorial board of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Dr. Welch received his undergraduate and initial graduate degree from Cambridge University and earned his doctorate in radiochemistry from the University of London. Applying modern organic chemistry to the preparation of radioactive elements used in medical imaging, Dr. Welch developed rapid methods to synthesize positron-labeled organic chemicals, a process essential in making PET into a practical clinical modality.