Professor Simon Cherry completed his undergraduate Science and Medical Physics PhD in London, before moving to UCLA where he developed co-registration techniques between PET and MRI, and also developed technology for high-resolution marker PET for imaging small animals. He relocated to UC Davis where he started his own molecular imaging and biomedical engineering laboratory. He is a professor in both the biomedical engineering and radiology departments, he is the co-director of the explorer molecular imaging center, and he is a distinguished professor in the Cherry Lab for molecular imaging technology. Professor Cherry is responsible for developing the technology that allowed simultaneous PET MRI development, and he developed the first total body PET scanner called the Explorer which is revolutionizing clinical research in molecular imaging. He is widely published, including lead author on several influential text books and book chapters, and has a long list of prestigious awards. His profile is available at https://bme.ucdavis.edu/people/simon-cherry.

The following interview was done by Hugo Currie as a year twelve high school student at the Riverina Anglican College in Wagga Wagga, Australia. He is passionate about physics and is now pursing a career in engineering and physics at the Australian National University. Below is an interview that Hugo conducted with Professor Simon Cherry. Hugo is hopeful that other students with similar interests will be inspired from this conversation, and he thanks Professor Cherry for giving his time and wisdom in this interview.