Prof. Freek Beekman Ph.D. Founder and CEO

In 2006, Freek Beekman founded MILabs BV, a molecular imaging spin-off from UMC Utrecht, focusing on his inventions in high-resolution PET and SPECT and the design of multimodal and stand-alone scanners for preclinical and clinical applications. MILabs was sold to the Rigaku Corp. in 2021.
In 2023 Beekman launched the Molecular Imaging Foundation and Free Bee International BV, a company that currently focuses on novel γ-imaging devices for clinical use.

Dr. Beekman’s work has advanced technologies in detectors, collimators, reconstruction algorithms, and artificial intelligence for various imaging modalities, including PET, SPECT, CT, and optical tomography. He has published more than 170 peer-reviewed articles and holds more than 20 patent families. Recognitions for his achievements have included the Physics Valorisation Prize from the Dutch Science Foundation, multiple SNMMI and IEEE awards, and two times the Innovation of the Year Award from the World Molecular Imaging Society. Many of the cutting-edge imaging systems pioneered by Dr. Beekman and his teams are deployed across biomedical research institutions worldwide, driving a broad range of discoveries and facilitating the development of novel tracers and pharmaceuticals.