Tony Papenfuss

Medical Imaging Scientist
Centre for Positron Emission Tomography
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Austin Hospital

Bachelor of Science (Honours)
PhD in mathematical sciences

"Some of my work has led to significant improvements in the quality of images."

I am currently a Medical Imaging Scientist in the Centre for Positron Emission Tomography and the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Austin Hospital. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a medical imaging modality that is widely used in cancer diagnosis and assessment of neurological diseases.

My position consists of a mix of technical and scientific support, a small amount of teaching, and my own research projects. I have developed a major collaboration with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. They are involved in developing new treatments for cancer based on radio-labelled monoclonal antibodies.

I particularly enjoy interacting with biologists and applying mathematics and physics to answering biological questions. Some of my work has led to significant improvements in the quality of images obtained from PET scans of cancer patients and this is very satisfying.

I have found the knowledge and skills that I developed during my undergraduate degree and PhD are very broadly applicable. This has enabled me to work in such diverse areas as minerals exploration research at BHP Research and biomedical research in a hospital.