Amol Takalkar, MD, MS, MBA, FACNM
(SWC-SNMMI President 2013-2014)

Please tell us about yourself.

I was born in Pune, a historic city in India, known for its culture, climate, and educational institutions. I was fortunate to get all my education (school, college, medical school) there and was blessed with great friends who I still am great friends with (thanks to modern technology). My primary medical interest is helping the sick in any possible way I can. One of my hobbies is to go for hikes in the mountains as Pune is surrounded by mountains and growing up, I had easy access to some great trails very near to where I lived. In addition, I love to listen to music, read fiction books, watch movies, play cricket and ping-pong.

Give us your background information related to your professional training, including nuclear medicine, and what inspired you to enter this field.

After finishing medical school in India, I was pursuing a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering at University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, USA. I was working in the Cardiovascular Research center with a focus on contrast echocardiography with microbubbles. There I got exposed to MIBG scans of the heart in canine model and was immediately drawn to the field that combined medical knowledge with technology along with physics and radiochemistry. I feel very fortunate to have been exposed to this field as I hardly had any exposure to this field in medical school. With my medical and biomedical engineering background, Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging became a perfect fit for me as I was already tinkering with targeted microbubbles for inflammation imaging in the lab at that time. 

What do you consider your primary contribution(s) to Nuclear Medicine?

I have been a PI on several studies and have had some of my own studies including PET imaging in pregnant women and others. However, I believe being a passionate advocate for the whole gamut of safe and effective Nuclear Medicine including Molecular Imaging, Nuclear Cardiology, Brain Imaging, and Therapy/Theranostics with an emphasis on clinical excellence that helps the patients we serve is probably my primary contribution to Nuclear Medicine. When the job market was not great for Nuclear Medicine, I never doubted my decision and remained zealously optimistic about the power of Nuclear Medicine. I have trained and mentored numerous people, and everyone says my passion and zeal for Nuclear Medicine is infectious and I have influenced several become to get into Nuclear Medicine. I was the local champion for Nuclear Medicine, and I remain a fiery advocate of Nuclear Medicine especially in the new era of Theranostics as I never considered myself just an “imager”.   

In what year were you a SWC-SNMMI President, and how did you first become involved with the chapter?

I was the president of SWC-SNMMI for 2013-2014. I first got involved with the chapter in 2006 when I first attended the SWC meeting after moving to Shreveport, Louisiana, in summer of 2005. I have always believed in the value of getting engaged in local professional chapters/societies, and I found the SWC-SNMMI (at that time it was still SWC-SNM) very welcoming.

Please describe anything else that you would like for your Nuclear Medicine colleagues to know about yourself.

I am a people’s person, and it makes me happy to help others. I have been fortunate to have good people support me when I was young and establishing myself, and I believe in trying to give others the same support and opportunities. I believe our education, training, and skills are our strengths. We need to believe in ourselves and our beloved field and not be told what we can do and what we cannot do. I am unafraid to speak up, and I am always happy to help my professional colleagues and friends.