A. Dean Sherry

A. Dean Sherry is a distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of Texas at Dallas and Professor of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, holding dual appointments for over 50 and 35 years, respectively. He served as the Cecil & Ida Green Distinguished Chair in Systems Biology at UT Dallas (2005–2022) and Director of the Advanced Imaging Research Center at UT Southwestern (2005–2019). His research focuses on molecular imaging, particularly developing MRI contrast agents like gadolinium complexes and paraCEST agents, as well as hyperpolarized ¹³C tracers for real-time metabolic analysis.

Sherry’s work includes groundbreaking contributions to zinc-responsive MRI sensors for prostate cancer detection and glucose metabolism studies in the brain and heart. He has founded two companies, Macrocyclics, Inc. and VitalQuan, LLC, to commercialize his research. Notably, he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in 2023 and has received prestigious awards such as the ISMRM Gold Medal and World Molecular Imaging Society Gold Medal.

His research spans interdisciplinary areas including stable isotope metabolism, paramagnetic chemistry, and translational imaging technologies. Key contributions include the first use of europium complexes as PARACEST agents and the development of novel Zn²⁺ sensors for in vivo imaging.