Frans Wackers, MD, PhD

Frans J. Th. Wackers, MD is Professor Emeritus of Diagnostic Radiology and Medicine, Presently he is a Senior Research Scientist in the Department of Medicine. He served as Director of the Cardiovascular Nuclear Imaging Laboratory at Yale University School of Medicine for 22 years. Born in Echt, The Netherlands, Dr Wackers received both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Amsterdam School of Medicine in 1970. He completed training in Internal Medicine and Cardiology in the former Wilhelmina Gasthuis, Amsterdam, Netherlands in 1977. Dr Wackers moved to the USA in 1977 where he was on the faculty of the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University School of Medicine (1977-1981), the University of Vermont College of Medicine(1981-1984) and, since 1984 at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Wackers is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology; a Fellow of the American Heart Association, Council on Clinical Cardiology; a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine; a Fellow of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. He is also a Diploma European Cardiologist of European Society of Cardiology. He was on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the American Journal of Cardiology, and Journal of Nuclear Cardiology. He was President of the Cardiovascular Council of The Society of Nuclear Medicine (1992-1993), President of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (1994-1995), President of the Certification Council of Nuclear Cardiology (1996 - 1997), President of the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Nuclear Laboratories (1997-2005). He is the recipient of the Rescar Award of the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands (1988), the Herrman Blumgart Award of the Society of Nuclear Medicine, New England Chapter (1995), the Homi Baba Award of the Indian Nuclear Cardiological Society (1997), the Eugene Drake Award of the American Heart Association, New England Affiliate (1999), the Distinguished Service Award of the Society of Nuclear Cardiology (1999), the third Mario Verani Memorial Lecturer of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology(2004), the Wenckebach Lecturer of the Dutch Society of Cardiology (2005) and the Mario Verani Lecturer of Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas. Dr. Wackers is considered a pioneer in Nuclear Cardiology. He is the founder of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (1993), the Certification Board of Nuclear Cardiology (1996) and the Intersocietal Commission for Accreditation of Nuclear laboratories (1997). He was Co-Chair of the 6th and 7th International Conference of Nuclear Cardiology (2003, 2005). Dr. Wackers published more than 325 articles on nuclear cardiology and clinical cardiology Dr Wackers is the Principal Investigator and Chairman of the multicenter (n=14) Detection of Ischemia in Asymptomatic Diabetics (DIAD) study. The study started in September 2000, recruitment was completed in August 2002 and follow-up was completed in September 2007. Dr Wackers was also the director of the Yale University Radionuclide Core laboratory. The laboratory has been involved in numerous multicenter clinical studies utilizing cardiac nuclear imaging since its inception in 1984.