Robert Gillies, chair of the cancer physiology department and vice chair of radiology research at Moffitt Cancer Center, was awarded the 2018 Gold Medal Award by the World Molecular Imaging Society.

Gillies’ career successes have led to new understandings of the development and progression of cancer as well as new cancer treatment options. His research approach focuses on understanding cancers as complex, heterogeneous, and dynamic systems, allowing him and his team to investigate cancer through multiple approaches such as radiomics and cellular biology.

His most recent work provides insight on how the metabolism and pH environments inside and outside of cancer cells contribute to disease growth. Further study in this area, including lowering the pH inside cells, could lead to new therapeutic approaches.

Gillies is a past president of the World Molecular Imaging Society and founding member and chair of the Molecular Imaging study section at the National Institutes of Health.

Moffitt Cancer Center is one of 49 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers. Gillies joined the center in 2008.

The World Molecular Imaging Society is a scientific educational organization dedicated to the understanding of biology and medicine through multimodal in vivo imaging of cellular and molecular events involved in normal and pathologic processes and utilization of quantitative molecular imaging in patient care.