Became a centre of excellence in molecular imaging and theranostics

St. Joseph’s began the journey to become a centre of excellence in the treatment of disease by advancing the powerful blend of precision diagnostic imaging and targeted therapy.

In a Canadian first, St. Joseph’s and Lawson Health Research Institute, in partnership with GE HealthCare, became a centre of excellence in the rapidly emerging field of medicine called molecular imaging and theranostics (MIT). Molecular imaging provides detailed imaging at the molecular level and theranostics is a term that combines the words therapeutics and diagnostics. Together, MIT is a two-pronged approach to diagnosing and treating cancers and other diseases that merges imaging with the use of radiotracers that can not only identify the location and extent of diseased tissues but also selectively destroy the abnormal cells while leaving surrounding healthy cells undamaged. The partnership with GE HealthCare saw St. Joseph’s become the first hospital in Canada to install the latest generation, state-of-the-art PET-CT from GE that provides faster exams, better patient experience, more detailed images and increased accuracy in diagnosing disease at a lower dose of radiation for patients. It also expanded clinical care at St. Joseph’s by significantly enhancing research through the Imaging Research Group at Lawson, working together with researchers at London Health Sciences Centre, the London Regional Cancer Program and Western University.