Shawn Carter, MD

Dr. Carter is a board-certified nuclear medicine physician with Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute in Lee and Sarasota counties, where he performs radioimmunotherapy (RIT), a specialized form of radiation oncology.

Dr. Carter has advanced training and expertise in whole body PET/CT, cardiac SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography), and PET imaging modalities, and Yttrium-90 (Y90) therapy. Abstracts he has authored in his areas of specialty have been presented at professional symposiums throughout the southeast United States.

Additionally, Dr. Carter holds the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Medical Corps, providing leadership and expertise to support both mission readiness and patient care. He is dedicated to mentoring fellow medical officers and ensuring high-quality care across Reserve medical operations.

He began active service with the U.S. Air Force as a flight surgeon and is part of the combat search and rescue (CSAR) mission at Patrick Space Force Base on the east coast of Florida, where he has served as chief of aerospace medicine for the 45^th Space Wing and for the 920th Rescue Wing.

As an aeromedical evacuation clearing physician at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, Dr. Carter cared for and cleared ill and injured patients for safe transport to Germany, maintaining a 98% survival rate. NASA selected Dr. Carter to serve as a medical support physician at the Kennedy Space Center for astronauts during the historic final space shuttle landing in July 2011. He is a two-time recipient of the Malcolm Grow Flight Surgeon of the Year for Air Force Space Command (2011, 2012), in recognition of his exceptional care for aerospace personnel, outstanding mission support, and notable achievements in aeromedical practice.

Dr. Carter received his medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Columbia and advanced training in general surgery at Greenville Hospital System. He was named as chief resident during his nuclear medicine residency at Emory University in Atlanta.

Throughout his career, Dr. Carter has combined clinical excellence with a commitment to service, making a lasting impact on patients, colleagues, and the Air Force community.

He is an active member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and serves as In-Training Committee chairman. Dr. Carter joined FCS in 2022.