Dr. Joel Karp

Biography

Joel Karp is a professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He received his PhD in nuclear physics from MIT in 1980 and joined the faculty at Penn in 1983 after completing his post-doctoral training at Stony Brook University in New York. Dr. Karp oversees the PET Imaging/Cyclotron Facility in radiology, supporting clinical research studies and directing operations of the Nuclear Medicine Core Medical School Small Animal Imaging Facility. He serves as section chief of the physics instrumentation research group within radiology, emphasizing the development of PET instruments and imaging techniques, including instrumentation for PET and SPECT preclinical imaging. His research focuses on improving PET technology performance, front-end electronics, detector design, data correction techniques, and 3D image reconstruction algorithms. Notably, he led the development of the Philips Gemini TF scanner and a prototype TOF instrument based on a new scintillator, lanthanum bromide. In recognition of his contributions to nuclear medicine, he received the Ed Hoffman Memorial Award in 2007. Dr. Karp has been active in IEEE and SNM organizations, serving as chair of the Nuclear Medical Imaging Sciences Council and as the Medical Imaging Conference Chair in 1996. He is a senior editor for the journal IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science: Nuclear Medical Imaging Sciences.

Research Interests