UAB Director of Nuclear Cardiology Ami E. Iskandrian, MD, received the Vittoria Alata award by Paolo Corsini, mayor of Brescia, Italy, at the 16th Annual Thoracic Imaging Meeting of the Italian Society of Radiology in Bresia. The award was presented in recognition of his activity in the field of cardiology and nuclear cardiology and his contributions to development of the field.

The Vittoria Alata, a bronze statute that is Brescia's city symbol, stands for "winged victory." It was once believed to be a Roman statue. Recent studies confirm it is of Hellenistic origins, dating to the third century B.C., of Aphrodite mirroring herself in the shield of her brother Mars, god of war. The wings were added in the 1st century A.D., and at that time, the symbolic significance of the statue was changed to that of "winged victory."