Dr. Parul Thakral is the Clinical Research Officer / Scientist at TPPL, leading the radiopharmaceutical preparation, quality control, dosimetry, and clinical research functions of the Department of Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram. With training entirely at AIIMS, New Delhi, she is one of India's most senior radiochemists in clinical nuclear medicine.
Dr. Thakral's training is among the deepest in the field. She holds a BSc in Medical Technology Radiography from AIIMS (1998), an MSc in Nuclear Medicine Technology from AIIMS (2006), and a PhD in Radiochemistry and Clinical Nuclear Medicine from AIIMS (2013). Her PhD thesis on radiolabeling and quality control of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody Rituximab with Y-90, Ga-68, and Lu-177 resulted in the first Y-90 Rituximab radioimmunotherapy for relapsed and refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma in India — now an established therapeutic option at the Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS. She served as Junior Research Fellow (2010–2011) and Senior Research Fellow (2011–2016, DST funded) at AIIMS before joining FMRI in May 2016.
Her clinical and research focus is the standardisation of radiolabeling and quality control across the full spectrum of radionuclides used in modern theranostics: Lu-177, Y-90, Ac-225, Pb-212, Bi-213, I-131, Ga-68, F-18, and Lead-203. She has pioneered advanced labelling techniques for alpha-emitting radionuclides in India and has contributed to approximately 250 cycles of Ac-225 therapy at FMRI. During the early deployment of Ac-225 in India, her radiation-dose monitoring study of radiochemists and post-therapy dose rates provided the evidence base for the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to approve administration of Ac-225 therapy on an outpatient basis in India — a structural change that has materially improved patient access and cost.
Dr. Thakral is the first author of a foundational dosimetric analysis on intra-arterial versus standard intravenous administration of 177Lu-DOTATATE in well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumour with liver-dominant metastatic disease (British Journal of Radiology, 2021), co-author on the 2024 Lancet Oncology multicentre WARMTH Act study on Ac-225 PSMA radioligand therapy (PMID 38218192), and the Chief Scientific Investigator on the IAEA Coordinated Research Project on Dosimetry in Molecular Radiotherapy for Personalised Patient Treatments (2017–2021). She is current Treasurer of the Nuclear Medicine Physicists Association of India (2023–2025) and was Executive Committee Member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine India (2021–2023). Her overall research output includes 30 peer-reviewed publications across journals including The Lancet Oncology, Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Nuclear Medicine, British Journal of Radiology, Annals of Nuclear Medicine, Cancer Biotherapy & Radiopharmaceuticals, and others.