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Dr. Ajit S. Shinto, Head of the Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence at 5C Network

5C Network · Nuclear Medicine

Dr. Ajit S. Shinto

Head, Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence, 5C Network

Nuclear medicine physician with more than 20 years in the specialty. He commissioned India’s first digital PET-CT scanner and has personally reported more than 30,000 PET-CT studies. He joined 5C Network in September 2026 to lead its Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence, which makes sub-specialty PET-CT and gamma camera reporting available to any centre in India.

Highlights

  • Commissioned India's first digital PET-CT scanner, at Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, Coimbatore
  • Personally reported more than 30,000 oncologic, cardiac and neurological PET-CT studies
  • Established the nuclear medicine department at Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur
  • Built Kovai Medical Center’s department into a regional centre of excellence over nine years
  • Commissioned the nuclear medicine division at Apollo Proton Cancer Centre, South Asia’s first proton therapy centre
  • Established high-dose theranostics and Lu-177 PSMA / DOTATATE protocols at Bharath Hospital, Kottayam
  • Chairs the Rhenium Task Force of the World Association of Radiopharmaceutical and Molecular Therapy (WARMTH)
  • Co-Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Research
  • Principal Investigator on the NOBLE and 68Ga Basket trials
  • 60+ first-author publications

Career

  1. 2026 –

    Head, Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence

    5C Network

  2. 2021 – 2026

    Head, PET-CT and Theranostics

    Bharath Hospital, Kottayam

  3. 2019 – 2021

    Lead Consultant, Nuclear Medicine and Theranostics

    Apollo Proton Cancer Centre, Chennai

  4. 2010 – 2019

    Chief Consultant and Head, Nuclear Medicine and Therapy

    Kovai Medical Center and Hospital, Coimbatore

  5. 2008 – 2010

    Head, Nuclear Medicine and Therapy

    Amala Institute of Medical Sciences

  6. 2007 – 2008

    Consultant, Nuclear Medicine

    Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bengaluru

  7. 2006 – 2007

    Scientific Officer

    Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Radiation Medicine Centre

Qualifications

MBBS
St John's Medical College, Bengaluru, 2000
DRM, Diploma in Radiation Medicine
Mumbai University (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre), 2006
DNB, Nuclear Medicine
National Board of Examinations, 2008
MNAMS
National Academy of Medical Sciences (India), 2010
MICNM
Indian College of Nuclear Medicine, 2017
Radiation Safety Officer (Nuclear Medicine)
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, 2006

Leadership in the field

  • Organising Chairman and Congress President, First and Second World Rhenium Congresses (2015, 2017)
  • Course Director, IAEA regional training course on radionuclide therapies
  • Executive Committee, Society of Nuclear Medicine India (2017–19); Governing Board, WARMTH (2015–17)
  • Young Scientist Award, Society of Nuclear Medicine (Washington DC, 2006)
  • Started the BSc, MSc and PhD programmes in nuclear medicine at Kovai Medical Center
  • Research collaborations with BARC, IIT Madras, King's College London and the University of Cape Town

On the Centre of Excellence

“Nuclear medicine in India is limited less by equipment than by reading capacity. A remote reading model built on credentialed physicians takes that scarce expertise to centres that cannot hire it. What a Centre of Excellence adds is depth: sub-specialty readers, structured reporting, peer review, AI in the read. Better science, closer to the treatment decision.”

In the news

The Nuclear Medicine Centre of Excellence Publications on ResearchGate