Undergrad Institution; Degree and Major:
Amherst College, BA, Interdisciplinary (Medical Anthropology)
Medical School:
University of Utah
In practice since:
2007
Your Specialty:
Diagnostic Radiology, Abdominal Imaging, Quality Improvement
Where and for how many years did you train AFTER medical school:
Internship: General Surgery Prelim, Stanford, 2001-2
Residency: Diagnostic Radiology, Wake Forest/North Carolina Baptist Hospital, 2002-2006
Fellowship: Abdominal Imaging & Outcomes, University of Utah, 2006-2007
How did you choose your specialty?
Almost all patients have imaging encounters and definitely all the perplexing, challenging patients have imaging encounters. This makes radiology and radiologists integral to all aspects of medicine. I wanted to be in a role where I am essential to patient care and where thinking about what I do, how I do it, and what could be better has a chance to impact entire populations.
What do you like MOST, and like LEAST, about your specialty?
Most: I have never stopped learning or stopped making a difference for my patients.
Least: The number of barriers there are to patients who need imaging getting the imaging they need and the difficulty in preventing imaging that is redundant or unnecessary from happening.
In your opinion, what attributes are important in anyone choosing this specialty?
You have to be able to recognize that you will likely be “behind the scenes”, but that you make a difference for your patients, even if they never meet you or acknowledge you. The intrinsic reward that comes from a thank you card or holiday present from a patient/family is unlikely. You need to have tremendous curiosity and be a critical thinker. You have to want to put together the digital information from the chart and the images in front of you to understand what is going on with our patients. You must have empathy for our patients and our colleagues who receive and deliver care in our convoluted system.
Hobbies/special interests:
Mountain biking, skiing, cooking, camping, traveling.