Hector Valdovinos
About Hector Valdovinos
Hector Valdovinos is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, specializing in automated modules for radiopharmaceutical synthesis and radionuclide separations for PET imaging. He holds a PhD in Health/Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has extensive experience in operating small animal PET scanners.
Work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Hector Valdovinos has been employed as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2020. In this role, he focuses on the design of automated modules for radiopharmaceutical synthesis and radionuclide separations. His work is integral to advancements in PET imaging technology, contributing to the laboratory's research objectives in medical physics and radiochemistry.
Education and Expertise
Hector Valdovinos holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Health/Medical Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied from 2013 to 2017. He also earned a Master of Science (M.Sc.) in the same field at the same institution from 2010 to 2013. His undergraduate education includes a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), completed from 2005 to 2009. Additionally, he was an exchange student at UCLA in 2008, studying Physics for 11 months.
Background
Prior to his current position, Hector Valdovinos worked as a Medical Physicist at the Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia in Mexico City from 2017 to 2020. He also served as a PhD Candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2014 to 2017. Earlier in his career, he was a Lab Instructor at ITESM from 2007 to 2009, where he contributed to the education of undergraduate students in Monterrey, NL, Mexico.
Achievements in Radiopharmaceutical Synthesis
Hector Valdovinos specializes in the design of targets for the production of various radionuclides essential for medical imaging, including 18F, 11C, 13N, 68Ga, 64Cu, 89Zr, and 86Y. He has extensive experience in operating and calibrating small animal PET scanners, specifically the Inveon and Genysis4 models, which are crucial for research in preclinical imaging.