Leaving their classrooms behind on the morning of April 4, more than 60 high school students from New York City public schools traveled to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center -- for the opportunity to use ultrasound to identify gumdrops stuffed into turkey breasts. This hands-on workshop was part of Radiology: Giving Back to New York, an annual program designed to introduce New York City high school juniors to careers in radiology. The half-day event, now in its fifth year, is sponsored by the New York Roentgen Ray Foundation and is organized jointly by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Department of Radiology and the New York City Board of Education.
The program included lectures by Memorial Sloan-Kettering nurses, technologists, and administrators, and by radiologists from other institutions. Several previous participants, including a pre-med student and a nursing student, described the impact the program had on their subsequent career choices. The popular ultrasound workshop challenged students to identify masses in a prosthetic human breast; and, in an interactive session, they were shown an image -- such an as x-ray of a broken arm -- and were asked to point out the location of the fracture. Admittance to the program is based on the submission of an essay, and modest cash prizes are awarded for the top three essays.
Hedvig Hricak, Chair of the Department of Radiology, delivered brief opening remarks. The morning session was moderated by Sara J. Abramson, Director of Pediatric Radiology. Other speakers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering included Donna Schick, Clinical Coordinator of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Regional Care Network, who talked about the role of nursing in radiology, and Patricia A. Soto, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Radiology Administrator, who spoke about radiological technology and medical imaging.
Nanayaa Serwaa, a student at Far Rockaway High School in Queens whose essay received first prize, commented, "I think many people are in the dark when it comes to radiology. This program has really opened my eyes and shown me a lot about the career possibilities."
