MD Anderson Students Tour Diagnostic Imaging Center
Twenty students from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (UTMDACC) School of Health Professions toured the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (VMTH) and the Diagnostic Imaging and Cancer Treatment Center on June 14 to learn about veterinary imaging and radiology capabilities.
The students, all seniors from the Diagnostic Imaging program who are specializing in computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or vascular interventional radiology, were joined by Deborah Scroggins, assistant professor and associate program director at the School of Health Professions.
“The tour was excellent and the students had a chance to see many aspects of the hospital,” Scroggins said. “They enjoyed seeing the various imaging modalities and they probably were amazed the most at seeing a horse having an MRI scan.”
Even though the students are training for careers in human medicine, they found the tour of the VMTH to be both educational and inspiring.
“The students acknowledged more than once the fact that everyone working in the hospital seemed happy and content with what they were doing,” Scroggins said. “A few students expressed an interest in pursuing a career in this area. In fact, one MRI student will be doing an elective rotation for the remainder of the summer semester at the Texas A&M Hospital.”
Scroggins regularly brings her students to the VMTH. She said they always find it to be one of the highlights of their senior year and are interested to see how veterinary imaging is both similar to and different from human imaging.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for the students to ‘think outside the box’ as they are about to begin their medical imaging careers,” Scroggins said.
The tour of the Diagnostic Imaging and Cancer Treatment Center was led by Wade Friedeck, radiology laboratory supervisor at the VMTH, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the UTMDACC. Scroggins said Friedeck’s experiences always enlighten the students and help them understand the many pathways that can come from a medical education.
The UTMDACC School of Health Professions, located in Houston within the Texas Medical Center, provides an academic and clinical education with a variety of Bachelor of Science degree programs, including five Laboratory Science programs and seven Medical Imaging programs.
