Chandigarh: Prof. Rama Walia from the PGI has been conferred with the prestigious ESI Best Researcher Award-2025 by the Endocrine Society of India (ESI)The annual award is presented by the society to an ESI member, who has published the best original research article in a reputed biomedical journal during the preceding year. According to an official announcement from the society’s executive committee, a total of 12 applications with supporting documents were received from members across the country before the final selection was made.Prof. Walia won the distinction for her pioneering medical research paper titled ‘A novel molecular imaging technique using Ga-mDesmo PET-CT for localizing tumors in Cushing’s disease’ that was published in the high-impact journal ‘European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’.Prof. Walia’s award-winning research focuses on curing Cushing’s disease, a condition where a microscopic brain tumor triggers the body to overproduce stress hormones, causing severe health issues. The best cure is removing the tumor, but because these tumors are incredibly tiny, standard scans often miss them. Prof. Walia’s team developed a new scanning technique that acts like a homing missile. By injecting a special compound that targets and sticks only to these specific tumor cells, the microscopic hidden tumor “lights up” brightly on a specialized scan, letting doctors pinpoint its exact location for safe surgical removal.
