Spencer Bowen, Ph.D. - Faculty Profile

Biography

Spencer L. Bowen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Nuclear Medicine Division. He is active in our research pursuits and serves as a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) research scientist.

Dr. Bowen holds a bachelor's degree in biomedical engineering from the University of Washington in Seattle. He earned his doctoral degree in biomedical engineering from the University of California at Davis, and then worked as a research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Prior to joining the UT Southwestern faculty in 2020, he served as a research assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences in Roanoke, Virginia.

Dr. Bowen's research focuses on the development of nuclear tomographic scanner tools to enable precision imaging for the care and study of oncology, neurology, and cardiology patients. He investigates advanced acquisition techniques, reconstruction algorithms, and post-processing methods for quantitative hybrid (PET-CT and PET-MR) and standalone PET cameras.

His research activities have resulted in more than a dozen original scientific publications, have been featured on the cover of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, and covered by the press.

Dr. Bowen serves as a reviewer for several publications, including the Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology, Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Medical Physics, European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging - Physics, Physics in Medicine and Biology, and IEEE's Transactions on Nuclear Science and Transactions on Medical Imaging.

Research Interest

Advanced acquisition techniques, reconstruction algorithms, and post-processing methods for quantitative PET imaging

Publications

Characterization of suspicious prostate lesions at multiparametric MRI with dynamic ⁶⁸ Ga-Gozetotide PET/CT: Parrott D, Yuan Q, Pinho D, Xi Y, Costa DN, De Leon AD, Dakanali M, Sun X, Oz OK, Bowen SL, Rofsky NM, Mathews D, Pedrosa I EJNMMI Reports 2025 Dec 9
Supplemental Transmission Aided Attenuation Correction for Quantitative Cardiac PET: Park MA, Zaha VG, Badawi RD, Bowen SL IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 2024 Mar 43 1125-1137
Development of a classifier for [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose extravasation severity using semi-quantitative readings from topically applied detectors: Perrin S, Kiser JW, Knowland J, Bowen SL EJNMMI Physics 2022 Dec 9
Comparison of maximum likelihood and conventional PET scatter scaling methods for ¹⁸F-FDG and ⁶⁸Ga-DOTATATE PET/CT: Bal H, Kiser JW, Conti M, Bowen SL Medical physics 2021 Aug 48 4218-4228
Transmission imaging for integrated PET-MR systems: Bowen SL, Fuin N, Levine MA, Catana C Physics in medicine and biology 2016 Jul 61 5547-5568
Different partial volume correction methods lead to different conclusions: An ¹⁸F-FDG-PET study of aging: Greve DN, Salat DH, Bowen SL, Izquierdo-Garcia D, Schultz AP, Catana C, Becker JA, Svarer C, Knudsen GM, Sperling RA, Johnson KA NeuroImage 2016 May 132 334-343
Effects of ferumoxytol on quantitative PET measurements in simultaneous PET/MR whole-body imaging: a pilot study in a baboon model: Borra RJ, Cho HS, Bowen SL, Attenberger U, Arabasz G, Catana C, Josephson L, Rosen BR, Guimaraes AR, Hooker JM EJNMMI Physics 2015 Dec 2 1-12
Influence of the partial volume correction method on ¹⁸F- fluorodeoxyglucose brain kinetic modelling from dynamic PET images reconstructed with resolution model based OSEM: Bowen SL, Byars LG, Michel CJ, Chonde DB, Catana C Physics in medicine and biology 2013 Oct 58 7081-7106
Quantification with a dedicated breast PET/CT scanner: Bowen SL, Ferrero A, Badawi RD Medical physics 2012 May 39 2694-2707
High-resolution ¹⁸F-FDG PET with MRI for monitoring response to treatment in rheumatoid arthritis: Chaudhari AJ, Bowen SL, Burkett GW, Packard NJ, Godinez F, Joshi AA, Naguwa SM, Shelton DK, Hunter JC, Boone JM, Buonocore MH, Badawi RD European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2010 May 37 1047

Honors & Awards

Trainee Award
IEEE Medical Imaging Conference (2011)
Trainee Award
IEEE Medical Imaging Conference (2009)
Young Investigator Award, 2nd runner up
Computer and Instrumentation Council, Society of Nuclear Medicine, Annual Meeting (2008)
Trainee Award
IEEE Medical Imaging Conference (2006)

Professional Associations/Affiliations

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging