Clinical Radiologist
Washington, D.C.

When I completed my undergrad at the Colorado Women’s College, I wanted to make the most of my education. I completed post graduate studies in immunobiology at University of New Mexico. When I left Albuquerque, I wanted to see how far I could go with my experiences, and for the next few years I went through medical school, a radiology residency and a fellowship at The George Washington University. I looked at the experience as a chance to try something completely different. It was a big change for me, coming from the West. Washington, D.C., was like a foreign country to me.

Through my education, I saw the importance of being involved with patients. I started to think that biology seemed too research-based for me; I wanted to be involved with people on a day-to-day basis, not spend my life in a lab.

Around the same time, my uncle, a radiologist in California, started calling to convince me to think about radiology. I said to him, “I don’t want to sit in a dark room all day. That’s not being a doctor.” He told me, “That’s not what radiology is. You have to know a little bit about every aspect of a patient’s health since you work with different specialties all the time. It’s up to you, and you can make it patient-oriented and very involved.”

That conversation, and my continuing medical education, changed me. The fellowship I completed after my residency was in body imaging CT, MRI, and ultrasound at The George Washington University Medical Center. These are imaging techniques I use every day with my patients. Whether it is searching for a kidney stone, doing a mammogram, or checking on the health of a baby, this technology and training have been vital to my daily practice.

I am lucky to work at a practice that believes in making the patient part of the process. We would never let patients leave our office without knowing they have all the information they can get; we want them to understand the next steps before they go anywhere.

The more I’m involved with my patients, the better doctor I can be. Just by talking with them, I can obtain information that helps me make a better analysis. This is something that works both ways, too. The better informed the patient is, the better informed the referring doctor will be. It’s a team effort that will best address the patient’s health.

For me, it’s simple. I’m a physician who practices radiology.