Aaron Craig Jessop, M.D., M.B.A.
Department of Nuclear Medicine, Division of Diagnostic Imaging
About Dr. Aaron Craig Jessop
Aaron C. Jessop, MD, MBA currently serves as Assistant Professor of Nuclear Medicine at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He joined MD Anderson in 2010 after completion of residency training in Nuclear Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is active as a clinician and educator in the Department of Nuclear Medicine and serves as the Section Chief of Clinical Nuclear Medicine. His research interests include clinical applications of PET/CT and SPECT/CT as well as therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures, with an emphasis on oncologic applications.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor, Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Associate Professor, Clinical Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN
Chief, Section of Clinical Nuclear Medicine (CNM), Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Assistant Professor, Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Dual/Joint/Adjunct Appointment
Professor, Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
- Clinical applications of PET/CT and SPECT/CT
- Therapeutic nuclear medicine procedures, with an emphasis on oncologic applications.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2014 | Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, US, Master of Business Administration, MBA |
| 2006 | University of Nebraska Medical School, Omaha, Nebraska, US, MD |
| 2002 | Utah State University, Logan, Utah, US, Liberal Arts and Sciences, BA |
Postgraduate Training
| 2007-2010 | Chief Resident, Vanderbilt Nuclear Medicine Residency Program, Nashville, Tennessee |
| 2007-2010 | Nuclear Medicine Residency, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee |
| 2006-2007 | Internal Medicine Internship, Griffin Hospital - Yale Teaching Affiliate, Derby, Connecticut |
Licenses & Certifications
| 2014 | The International Society for Clinical Densitometry |
| 2014 | State of Tennessee Division of Health Related Boards |
| 2012 | DEA |
| 2010 | The American Board of Nuclear Medicine |
| 2010 | Texas Medical Board |
| 2008 | Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners |
Experience & Service
Faculty Academic Appointments
Associate Professor, Clinical Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, 2017 - 2023
Assistant Professor, Department of Diagnostic & Interventional Imaging, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX, 2013 - 2017
Assistant Professor, Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2011 - 2017
Instructor, Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2010 - 2011
Administrative Appointments/Responsibilities
Chief, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2017 - 2023
Chief, Nuclear Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, 2014 - 2017
Extramural Institutional Committee Activities
Member, DI Ad Hoc Faculty Recognition Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2014 - 2017
Member, DI Informatics Functional Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2014 - 2017
Member, DI Faculty Functional Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2014 - 2017
Member, DI Clinical Finance Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2013 - 2014
Member, Department of Nuclear Medicine 60/40 Search Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2010 - 2010
Member, PETCT QA & Education Committee, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 2010 - 2017
Honors & Awards
| 2016 | President's Recognition of Faculty Excellence Honoree, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center |
| 2015 | 3rd Place-Radiopharmaceuticals Bulk Vial Use in Clinical Nuclear Medicine, Diagnostic Imaging Performance Improvement Program |
| 2014 | Celebrating Improvement at MD Anderson-Optimizing Intradermal Injections, Office of Performance Improvement |
| 2009 | Fellow Teacher of the Year, Vanderbilt University Radiology Residents |
| 2008 - 2009 | Faculty Teacher of the Year, Vanderbilt Nuclear Medicine Technology Program |
| 2002 | Top Liberal Arts Student Award, Utah State University |
| 2002 | Academic Scholarship, University Of Nebraska College of Medicine |
Professional Memberships
Selected Presentations & Talks
Local Presentations
- 2017. Authorized Usership: Definition and Responsibilities within Breast RSL Framework. Conference. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Houston, TX, US.
- 2016. Authorized Usership: Definition and Responsibilities within Breast RSL Framework. Conference. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Houston, TX, US.
- 2010. PET/CT Imaging of CNS Tumors. Conference. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Houston, TX, US.
National Presentations
- 2024. PSMA Imaging and Targeted Radioligand Therapy. Invited. Texas Radiological Society. Arlington, TX, US.
- 2016. A Culture of Safety-Your First and Last Priority in RSL. Invited. 2016 NCoBC Conference. Las Vegas, NV, US.
- 2016. Trick of the Trade and Lessons Learned: Pitfalls, Complications and Solutions. Invited. 2016 NCoBC Conference. Las Vegas, NV, US.
- 2016. Follow the Seed, Follow the Seed. Invited. 2016 NCoBC Conference. Las Vegas, NV, US.
- 2014. Fusion Imaging: SPECT/CT, PET/CT and PET/MR. Invited. SNMMI Southwestern Chapter 59th Annual Meeting. New Orleans, LA, US.
- 2012. PET/CT Imaging of Brain Tumors. Invited. SNM Southwestern Chapter 57th Annual Meeting. Galveston, TX, US.
- 2012. In the Wake of the National Lung Screen Trial - CT and PET/CT of Indeterminate Lung Nodules. Invited. SNM 2012 Mid-Winter Meeting. Orlando, FL, US.
- 2012. Review of the initial results from the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial for the Nuclear Medicine Physician. Invited. SNM 2012 Mid-Winter Meeting. Orlando, FL, US.
- 2011. Hybrid Imaging with SPECT/CT and PET/CT. Invited. ACOI's 71st Annual Convention and Scientific Sessions. San Antonio, TX, US.
- 2011. Radionuclide Therapy for Painful Bone Disease. Invited. SNM 2011 Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX, US.
- 2011. Hybrid Imaging (SPECT/CT and PET/CT): Improving Therapeutic Decisions. Invited. American College of Nuclear Medicine. Palm Springs, CA, US.
- 2010. PET/CT of the Abdomen and Pelvis: Read with an Expert - Co-Moderator. Invited. SNM 2010 Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT, US.
- 2010. Complimentary role of 11C-acetate and 18F-FDG in the evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Invited. SNM 2010 Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City, UT, US.
- 2010. Brain Tumor Imaging with PET/CT. Invited. Tennessee Nuclear Medicine Technology Meeting. Chattanooga, TN, US.
International Presentations
- 2016. TRT of pediatric malignancies w/ I-131 MIBG (neuroblastoma). Invited. Regional Training Course on Targeted Radionuclide Therapy. Houston, US.
- 2016. Radiolabelled MoAb for the treatment of NHL (Zevalin). Invited. Regional Training Course on Targeted Radionuclide Therapy. Houston, US.
- 2011. Complimentary role of 11C-acetate and 18F-FDG in the evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Invited. Chinese Society of Nuclear Medicine and Society of Nuclear Medicine. Beijing, CN.
Formal Peers
- 2013. PET Scans as They Relate to Workup of Malignancies. Invited. Lawton, OK, US.
- 2013. MMR Imaging and SPECT 5.0. Invited. Hoffman Estates, IL, US.
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Lee, IT, Grice, JV, Ji, X, Chen, Q, Bischoff, L, Jessop, A, Barahimi, B, Codere, F, Mawn, LA, Sobel, RK. A Pilot Nonrandomized Controlled Trial Examining the Use of Artificial Tears on the Radioactivity of Tears After Radioactive Iodine Treatment for Thyroid Cancer. Thyroid 34(1):82-87, 2024. e-Pub 2024. PMID: 37917111.
- Recca K, Muneeb A, Helstern C, Lemieux B, Das S, Jessop A. Evaluation of Patient Transmission Factor Following the Administration of 177Lu-DOTATATE. Health Phys 123(6):457-463, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 36099424.
- Lee, IT, Chen, W, Chen, Q, Cole, HA, Bischoff, L, Jessop, A, Sobel, RK. Factors Associated With Radioactive Iodine Therapy–Acquired Nasolacrimal Duct Obstruction. Endoc Pract 28(12):1210-1215, 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35970353.
- Das, S, Chauhan, A, Du, LP, Thomas, KE, Jacob, A, Schad, A, Jain, S, Jessop, A, Shah, C, Eisner, D, Cardin, D, Ciombor, KK, Goff, LW, Bradshaw, M, Delbeke, D, Sandler, M, Ramirez, RA, Berlin, J. External Validation of a Clinical Score for Patients with Neuroendocrine Tumors under Consideration for Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy. JAMA Network Open 5(1), 2022. e-Pub 2022. PMID: 35044469.
- Kairemo K, Jessop AC, Vija AH, Ding X, Spence D, Kappadath SC, Macapinlac HA. A Prospective Comparative Study of Using Ultrasonography, 4D-CT and Parathyroid Dual-Phase Scintigraphy with SPECT in Patients with Primary Hyperparathyroidism. Diagnostics (Basel) 11(11), 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34829354.
- Das S, Du L, Schad A, Jain S, Jessop AC, Shah C, Eisner D, Cardin D, Ciombor K, Goff L, Bradshaw M, Delbeke D, Sandler M, Berlin J. A clinical score for neuroendocrine tumor patients under consideration for Lu-177-DOTATATE therapy. Endocr Relat Cancer 28(3):203-212, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33608484.
- Delbeke D, Newman G, Deppen S, Shah C, Ndolo J, Shi C, Bailey CE, Jessop AC, Sandler MP. 68Ga-DOTATATE: Significance of Uptake in the Tail of the Pancreas in Patients Without Lesions. Clin Nucl Med 44(11):851-854, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 31524686.
- Vija AH, Bartenstein PA, Froelich JW, Kuwert T, Macapinlac H, Daignault CP, Gowda N, Hadjiev O, Hephzibah J, Huang P, Ilhan H, Jessop A, Cachovan M, Ma J, Ding X, Spence D, Platsch G, Szabo Z. ROC study and SUV threshold using quantitative multi-modal SPECT for bone imaging. Eur J Hybrid Imaging 3(1):10, 2019. e-Pub 2019. PMID: 34191147.
- Erwin WD, Jessop AC, Mar MV, Macapinlac HA, Mawlawi OR. Qualitative and quantitative comparison of gated blood pool single photon emission computed tomography using low-energy high-resolution and SMARTZOOM collimation. Nucl Med Commun 38(1):35-43, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27775993.
- Amini B, Jessop AC, Ganeshan DM, Tseng WW, Madewell JE. Contemporary imaging of soft tissue sarcomas. J Surg Oncol. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 25348367.
- Oki Y, Chuang H, Chasen B, Jessop A, Pan T, Fanale M, Dabaja B, Fowler N, Romaguera J, Fayad L, Hagemeister F, Rodriguez MA, Neelapu S, Samaniego F, Kwak L, Younes A. The prognostic value of interim positron emission tomography scan in patients with classical Hodgkin lymphoma. Br J Haematol 165(1):112-6, 2014. e-Pub 2014. PMID: 24386943.
Review Articles
- Khattab MH, Sherry AD, Jessop AC, Ciombor KK, Chakravarthy B. Early detection of SARS-CoV-2 from staging PET-CT. J Radiat Oncol 9(3-4):93-95, 2020. e-Pub 2020. PMID: 33014283.
- Jimenez P, Tatsui C, Jessop A, Thosani S, Jimenez C. Treatment for Malignant Pheochromocytomas and Paragangliomas: 5 Years of Progress. Curr Oncol Rep 19(12):83, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 29081018.
- Rayamajhi SJ, Lee J, Mittal BR, Jessop AC, Chasen B, Bhosale P. Cross sectional and nuclear medicine imaging of pancreatic insulinomas. Abdom Radiol (NY) 42(2):531-543, 2017. e-Pub 2017. PMID: 27639564.
Abstracts
- Issa K, Bill E, Aaron J. Stratified Intense-Dose-Yittrium-90 Ibritumumab Tiuxetan (90IT) with Bendamustine+Fludarabine Nonmyeloablative Conditioning for Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation in b-Cell Malignancies. ASH Abstract: Oral Presentation 58th Annual Meeting and Exposition Published online Dec 1, 2016 supplemental volume of Blood(662), 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Erwin W, Khouri I, Gress D, Kappadath S, Jessop A. Target organ dose range-based, high activity Zevalin -inclusive, non-myeloablative conditioning for allogeneic stem cell transplantation: a stratified approach. The Journal of Nuclear Medicine 57, Supplement 2, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Kairemo KJ, Jessop A, Kappadath SC, Macapinlac HA. A prospective comparative study of using ultrasonography (US), 4D-CT and parathyroid dual-phase scintigraphy with SPECT in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. The Journal of Nuclear Medicine 57, Supplement 2:131P, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Bache ST, Adrada BE, Jessop A, Rauch GM, Kappadath SC. Quantification of tumor uptake with molecular breast imaging. The Journal of Nuclear Medicine 57, Supplement 2, 2016. e-Pub 2016.
- Khouri IF, Sui D, Turturro F, Erwin WD, Bassett RL, Korbling M, Valverde R, Ahmed S, Alousi AM, Anderlini P, Bashir Q, Ciurea SO, Oran B, Olson A, Popat UR, Patel KK, Qazilbash MH, Fanele MA, Fayad LE, Nastoupil L, Westin JR, Gulbis AM, Medeiros LJ, Young KH, Jessop A. In-Vivo Purging with Rituximab (R) Followed by Z/BEAM/R Autologous Stem Cell Conditioning for Relapsed Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) Patients (pts): Mature Results from a Combined Analysis of 3 Trials. American Society of Hematology, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Cabanillas ME, Waquespack SG, Pitteloud M, Roman-Gonzalez A, Jessop AC, Santos EB, Davies MA, Dadu R. Anti-CTLA4-induced Graves Disease (GD): A rare cause of hyperthyroidism (hyperT) in patients (pts) with metastatic melanoma (MM). Thyroid 25 (S1)(P-1-A-337), 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Bache S, Adrada B, Jessop A, Rauch G, Kappadath S. Scatter and attenuation correction approaches for quantitative molecular breast imaging. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 56 (Supplement 3):45, 2015. e-Pub 2015.
- Erwin W, Jessop A, Peirsol W, Mar M, Jones S, Macapinlac H, Mawlawi O. Qualitative and quantitative comparison of gated blood pool SPECT using low-energy high-resolution and SMARTZOOM collimation. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 55 (Supplement 1):1736, 2014. e-Pub 2014.
- Costelloe C, Jessop AC, Madewell JE, Chuang H, Haygood TM. FDG PET/CT of Primary Bone Tumors. American Journal of Roentgenology 198 (5 Supplement):E533, 2012. e-Pub 2012.
- Bawa T, Jessop AC, Rohren EM, Delbeke D. FDG PET/CT of patients with melanoma: Clinical impact of imaging the lower extremities. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 52 (Supplement 1):1918, 2011. e-Pub 2011.
- Jessop AC, Yan X, Delbeke D. Complimentary role of 11C-acetate and 18F-FDG in the evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC): The Vanderbilt Experience. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 51 (Supplement 2):68, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Yan X, Jessop AC, Patton J, Delbeke D. Comparison of left ventricular function determined by gated 64-slice CT and SPECT. Journal of Nuclear Medicine 51 (Supplement 2):434, 2010. e-Pub 2010.
- Jessop AC, Walker RC, Delbeke D. Accuracy of 64-slice coronary CT angiography (CCTA) for the diagnosis of functionally significant coronary artery disease (CAD) on SPECT stress/rest myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS). Journal of Nuclear Medicine 50 (Supplement 2):1143, 2009. e-Pub 2009.
Book Chapters
- Jessop AC, Delbeke D. Pancreas and Liver. In: A Case-Based Approach to PET/CT in Oncology. Cambridge University Press, 242-266, 2012.
- Jessop AC, Walker R, Delbeke D. Tumors of the Central Nervous System. In: Hybrid PET/CT and SPECT/CT Imaging - A Teaching File. Springer, 99-136, 2010.
- Walker R, Jones-Jackson L, Jessop AC, Delbeke D. PET/CT Imaging of Lung Cancer. In: Hybrid PET/CT and SPECT/CT Imaging - A Teaching File. Springer, 171-216, 2010.
- Walker R, Jones-Jackson L, Jessop AC, Delbeke D. PET/CT Imaging of Melanoma. In: Hybrid PET/CT and SPECT/CT Imaging - A Teaching File. Springer, 555-582, 2010.
Patient Reviews
CV information above last modified July 22, 2026