Article by: Chris Carmody at UAMS
Six students from Hall-West STEAM Magnet High School’s health sciences academy visited the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) on Feb. 5 to observe health professionals in the field of radiology.
The inaugural Radiology/Imaging Job Shadow Day was hosted by the UAMS College of Medicine’s Department of Radiology and UAMS Health’s Imaging Services in collaboration with the UAMS Division for Academic Pathways and Workforce Partnerships.
Sanjaya Viswamitra, M.D., interim chair of the Department of Radiology, opened the event by describing the importance of radiologists, who use cutting-edge technology to capture and interpret images of the body’s internal structures.
“Although we do not necessarily interact with patients every day, we are often involved in their care from the time they arrive until the day of their discharge,” he said.
After their introduction to radiology, the students made their way to the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, where they met with MRI technicians and saw how these scans inform the diagnosis and treatment of patients. They also got to view an MRI machine from the doorway of the imaging room — as they learned about the precautions that employees take to ensure safety around the machine’s strong magnetic field.
“I thought the MRIs were cool because they give you a better understanding of what’s going on inside the patient,” said Markya Smith, a senior at Hall High.
The group’s next stop was a tour of The Orthopaedic & Spine Hospital at UAMS, which featured a hands-on demonstration of ultrasound imaging. An employee volunteer served as the patient while students controlled the device and learned how to decipher the images on the monitor.
Janiyah Beasley, a senior student, said she enjoyed the experience.
“They let us practice and see what it’s actually like to do their job,” she said. “It was a little tougher than I thought because you have to position it in just the right way.”
The students also got to take a closer look at the hospital’s computed tomography (CT) scanners, which capture X-ray images of the body’s internal structures. And in one of the facility’s operating room observation areas, they learned about how radiology helps guide orthopaedic surgeons as they conduct their work.
After the tour, the group attended a lunchtime session in which UAMS recruitment coordinators and program directors shared their stories and encouraged the students to consider careers in radiology.
Gwendolyn Bryant-Smith, M.D., chief of breast imaging at UAMS and director of the Cancer Institute’s Breast Center, said she decided in eighth grade that she wanted to pursue a health career. But she didn’t consider radiology until her third year of medical school, when she attended an interest group meeting and heard a radiologist describe how much she loved her job.
“That one-hour session changed the trajectory of my life,” she said.
Bryant-Smith said events like the Radiology/Imaging Job Shadow Day are important because they give students a head start and a larger set of options as they think about the next stages of their education.
“I applaud all of you for participating with us today,” she told them. “You can be what you know about, you can dream what you know about, and every single one of you has the potential to be what you want to be.”
Since 2023, UAMS has partnered with Hall-West High’s health sciences academy to provide students with hands-on learning opportunities and exposure to careers in health care. Shey Anderson, assistant department administrator in the Department of Radiology, said she hoped the UAMS event enhanced the students’ awareness of an often-overlooked specialty.
“Most people say they want to be a doctor or a nurse, but we also want to highlight the field of radiology,” she said. “We’re hoping that we can help establish the next generation of radiologists and imaging technicians.”
Anderson encouraged students to use the event to build connections on the UAMS campus, and she invited them to return for one-on-one job-shadowing opportunities. She added that the department plans to hold more of these events in the future.
Smith, the Hall-West High student, said she came away with a new perspective on the role that radiologists have in patient care.
“I always knew that they scanned people, but I didn’t know much about how they study the images and help with diagnoses,” she said.
Brian Gittens, Ed.D., MPA, vice chancellor of the Division for Academic Pathways and Workforce Partnerships, said his division would like to organize similar job-shadowing experiences in other health care disciplines, with the goal of helping the teens make informed decisions about their career paths.
“We want to show them the whole universe of possibilities, particularly here in academic medicine and health care,” he said.