Fangyu Peng, M.D., Ph.D.

Fangyu Peng, M.D., is a Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Nuclear Medicine Division. He also serves as the Director of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Translational Imaging, and holds a secondary appointment in the Advanced Imaging Research Center. His clinical interests include general nuclear medicine, PET imaging, and computed tomography (CT), with a particular interest in oncology and neurology. 

Dr. Peng earned his medical degree at Jiangxi Medical College in Nanchang, China. He then earned a master’s degree in molecular virology at Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine's Institute of Virology in Beijing. He earned a doctoral degree in microbiology and immunology at the University of South Florida College of Medicine in Tampa. He then completed a research fellowship program in hematopathology at Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Indiana, before completing his residency in pathology at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Peng then completed a residency in nuclear medicine at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington, and in anatomic pathology at Hartford Hospital. He completed his formal training with a fellowship program in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Before being recruited in 2008 to enhance the Nuclear Medicine Division's translational research, Dr. Peng served as an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.

At UT Southwestern, he troubleshoots and improves imaging protocols, and actively participates in educational endeavors, in addition to his regular clinical responsibilities.

Dr. Peng focuses his research on inherited and acquired copper metabolism disorders in Wilson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and traumatic brain injury, and investigates copper metabolism as a theranostic target for molecular imaging and cancer treatment. His research has been published in more than 50 peer-reviewed publications. He also invented and received a patent for intracellular trapping of radionuclides by enzyme-mediated reduction. 

A career marked by service

Dr. Peng is a member of the Nuclear Medicine Residency Program Committee, the Nuclear Medicine Division Research Committee, and the Clinical Competency Committee of the Nuclear Medicine Residency Program, which he chairs. He also serves the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging as a member of the Brain Imaging Council and the Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Council, and the American College of Medicine as a member of the International Affairs Committee.

He is an active member of numerous professional societies, including the International Society for Neurochemistry, the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment, and the American Society for Neurochemistry.

Robust editorial and lecture activity

In addition to his publishing endeavors, Dr. Peng also serves on the editorial board of several academic journals, including the Journal of Radiology and Radiation Therapy, American Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Chinese Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, and the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. He is frequently an invited lecturer at medical institutions, academic research centers, and professional organizations throughout the country and world.