Rong Xu, PhD
Dr. Rong Xu is a radiochemist in the PET Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Section (PRSS), NIMH from January 2012. She received her B.S. (1999) and M.Sc. (2002) degrees in Organic Chemistry from Yunnan University in China, investigating the structure-activity relationship of benzoylurea chitin inhibitors. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2007 from the University of Missouri-Columbia under the guidance of Dr. Susan Lever. Her research focused on the structural design, synthesis and radiolabeling of 1,4-disubstituted piperazines as brain imaging ligands for sigma receptors. She had her postdoctoral training in PRSS from 2008 to 2010, with the supervision of Dr. Victor Pike, developing 5-HT