Nuclear Physician

The knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures, the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar, plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment, Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes, circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

A typical day at work for me usually starts at 8 a.m., but some tumor conferences start at 7 or 7:30 a.m. At 8 a.m., along with my colleagues, I go over the “overnight cases” that were read by the residents and have an opportunity to discuss with them what questions they may have. From around 9 to 10 a.m., we wait for the radiopharmaceuticals to localize in our patients and for them to be imaged: we can only go as fast as our patients’ physiology. While we wait, we teach technologist students, work on research or work on administrative things.

After 10 to 10:30 a.m. or so, images start rolling in and need to be read. During this time I will review the findings with the residents or fellows. In the event that we have radionuclide therapy patients, I will review radiation safety precautions with them and anyone else in their household. I enjoy putting to rest bad information from the Internet and putting the patients at ease. Work continues until somewhere between 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. We are also open for business (mostly inpatients) on Saturday and Sunday; those days are usually quite a bit shorter.

Nuclear medicine can be entered into in various ways. In my opinion the best way is the way that offers the highest amount of dedicated training in nuclear medicine: preliminary year (internal medicine, surgery or transitional year) followed by a three-year nuclear medicine residency. Other considerations include completing an internal medicine residency and then continuing on to a two-year NM residency. Or, finally, one can complete a radiology residency and go on to do a one-year NM fellowship. Since NM is a field that is always changing, more training is better. That being said, finding a job in purely NM is very challenging, requires a lot of networking as a resident and immense amounts of determination. Nonetheless, it’s quite possibly one of the most rewarding specialties around.

I am fortunate enough to be very involved with professional societies. I serve on the board of directors of the American College of Nuclear Medicine (ACNM) and am editor of the ACNM newsletter. As a resident I was president of the Nuclear Medicine Resident Organization (NMRO), which is under the auspices of the ACNM. This is a great organization and allows for mentoring, networking, educational opportunities and many other exciting things.

The Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) is another big part of my life. I currently serve as the Academic Council intern and am developing educational materials for lung scintigraphy in the form of a basic module for V/Q scans and an LLSAP module (a kind of CME required after board certification). I also had the great honor of doing the first Robert E. Henkin government relations fellowship and am now a part of the government relations committee; I find this very rewarding and look forward to continued participation. The coding and reimbursement committee is something that I started serving on while a resident—I found this quite useful since as a medical student and resident we don’t get much education on the business side of medicine and how payment actually works—it’s fascinating and aggravating at the same time. It’s most aggravating when someone needs something that has plenty of good data behind it and her or his insurance doesn’t approve it. I also serve as an officer in the Young Professionals section of SNMMI. We hope to help advance the field and garner awareness of nuclear medicine.