UCLA opens joint faculty search in nuclear medicine, theranostics, and oncology imaging
The University of California Los Angeles is recruiting a full-time attending physician for a joint appointment in Nuclear Medicine and Radiological Sciences, with the primary appointment in nuclear medicine. The role sits at the intersection of diagnostic imaging, radionuclide therapy, and oncology-focused interpretation, reflecting how rapidly the field has expanded beyond traditional scan reading into treatment delivery and response assessment.
The position is offered at the Assistant, Associate, or full Professor level in the Health Sciences Clinical Series. It is framed as a clinical and translational appointment, not a narrow procedural post. The selected physician is expected to contribute materially to service, research, and multidisciplinary cancer care, with particular emphasis on PET/CT imaging and nuclear medicine therapy.
Receptor-based imaging has moved from a specialized niche to a practical tool in oncology decision-making. In prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors, it helps define disease distribution, refine eligibility for targeted treatments, and measure response with a level of biologic specificity that conventional morphologic imaging cannot always provide. UCLA has made that skill set a core condition of appointment, signaling that the clinical workload will extend into modern molecular imaging rather than routine cross-sectional interpretation alone.
Dual-board expertise sits at the center of the post
Applicants must hold an M.D. degree, be eligible for California licensure, and be boarded or board-eligible by both the American Board of Nuclear Medicine and the American Board of Radiology. A body, abdominal, thoracic, or equivalent radiology fellowship is also required. Those requirements point to a hybrid physician profile: someone capable of managing complex oncologic imaging while also functioning across subspecialty radiology workflows.
The department is looking for more than technical certification. Excellent radiology skills across oncology and abdominal imaging are expected, particularly in CT, PET/CT, and MRI. Experience in treatment response assessment and interest in oncology clinical trials are viewed favorably, as is familiarity with whole body MRI and MRI/PET. In practical terms, the physician will need to interpret disease biology across modalities, correlate imaging with pathology and systemic therapy, and help define whether apparent changes represent true response, progression, or treatment-related effects.
A single imaging reading can alter a therapeutic pathway.
Theranostics capacity, not just diagnostic volume
The Department of Nuclear Medicine and Theranostics operates two SPECT/CT systems and five SPECT cameras across a multi-site operation. It also runs an outpatient theranostics center that can treat up to 16 patients per day. Those details matter because they show the scale of the service line and the operational intensity behind the appointment. This is not a symbolic academic role attached to a narrow referral stream; it is built around a substantial clinical enterprise in molecular imaging and radionuclide treatment.
Six PET/CT systems are jointly operated by Nuclear Medicine and Radiology. That shared infrastructure suggests a deliberately integrated model, one in which diagnostic imaging, cancer staging, and treatment planning overlap across departments rather than sitting in silos. For an attending physician, that type of environment typically demands close collaboration with medical oncology, urology, radiation oncology, surgery, and other services that rely on imaging to guide tumor-specific decisions.
Advanced imaging infrastructure is part of the recruitment pitch
The Department of Radiological Sciences provides imaging, consultation, and interventional services across four hospitals and twenty-five outpatient sites. The scale is notable, but the more clinically relevant point is the variety of modalities now embedded in the platform. Photon counting CT and molecular MRI, described as MR PET machines in the posting, have recently been installed. Those technologies reflect the direction of high-end oncologic imaging: higher spatial and spectral detail, improved lesion characterization, and tighter alignment between anatomy and biology.
For a physician entering this environment, the day-to-day practice would likely involve more than reading scans in isolation. It would mean helping translate advanced imaging into decisions about diagnosis, staging, response assessment, and treatment selection. In cancer care, imaging has become a longitudinal tool rather than a one-time event, especially when radionuclide therapy is paired with receptor-based imaging to confirm target expression and monitor benefit.
UCLA is tying imaging medicine to the cancer center
Both departments are integrated into the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and work with urology, oncology, radiation oncology, medicine, surgery, and other services. That integration is central to the appeal of the post. In contemporary oncology, the most useful imaging physicians are often those who can work at the point where disease biology, systemic therapy, and procedure-based treatment converge.
The posted role appears designed for a physician who can operate in that space with equal strength in clinical service and translational work. Nuclear medicine therapy is increasingly inseparable from the imaging that supports it. Patient selection, tracer-based confirmation, and post-treatment assessment all depend on a physician who understands both the radiologic appearance of disease and the therapeutic implications of target expression.
The appointment also carries an academic dimension. Candidates are expected to contribute significantly to research programs, especially those linked to PET/CT, theranostics, and therapeutic nuclear medicine. Interest in clinical trials is explicitly valued, and that fits the broader trajectory of the field, where imaging endpoints and response metrics are becoming more important in oncology studies and treatment development.
A role built for the next phase of molecular oncology practice
The job ad defines a physician profile shaped by precision imaging, radionuclide therapy, and cross-disciplinary cancer care. It is aimed at candidates who can move between diagnostic interpretation and therapeutic nuclear medicine without losing the clinical detail that each domain requires. The combination of receptor-based imaging, PET/CT, MRI, and response assessment suggests a service line that is deeply embedded in modern oncology rather than functioning as an isolated diagnostic unit.
The posting does not provide salary specifics beyond a DOE listing, and it does not identify protected research time, formal teaching load, or case mix beyond the imaging and therapy capabilities of the departments. Even so, the requirements are explicit enough to show what UCLA wants: a dual-trained physician with strong oncology imaging skills, therapeutic nuclear medicine experience, and the ability to function across an extensive, high-capacity academic system. The central question for applicants is not whether the job spans multiple domains. It does, and that breadth is built into the position itself.