Mathew L Thakur, an Indian-American physician- scientist, has won the prestigious Benedict Cassen Prize this year. The Cassen Prize is considered the equivalent of a Nobel in the field of nuclear medicine research. 

At the recently held 55th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, Thakur was bestowed the biennial $25,000 award. 

As a visiting scholar at the Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis and associate professor of radiology at the Yale University School of Medicine, Thakur has worked extensively on developing and evaluating radiopharmaceuticals for diagnostic imaging and therapy. With this, Thakur joins the company of other eight researchers who have been presented the Cassen Prize.

Sue Weiss, executive director of the Society's Education and Research Foundation which funds the award, said, “Dr Thakur's research has truly advanced excellence in health care.”

Speaking on this, Thakur said, “In science, nothing is more gratifying and encouraging than recognition by peers.”

Thakur next project is research on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, prostate cancer and pancreatic cancer and the development of imaging techniques for venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and gene expression.