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Southeastern Chapter Society of Nuclear Medicine
and Molecular Imaging
Newsletter
June, 2014
 
In This Issue
President's Message
Abstracts NOW Being Accepted
TS President's Message
Aaron Scott is the SNMMI-TS President-Elect

Message from the SECSNMMI
President

 

Daniel Lee, MD

 Emory University

We have an excellent program taking shape for our Chapter Annual Meeting, which will take place at the Hilton Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, October 9-12, 2014.  Our program chairs Dr. David Brandon and Cindy Brodnax have been working diligently to assemble expert speakers and provide an engaging and rewarding educational experience, the theme of which will be The Wonderful World of Molecular Imaging.  We will have excellent coverage of topics including cardiac imaging, CT, new diagnostic nuclear agents, and therapies.  We will also have our second annual Coleman Lecture featuring Dr. Steven Larson, currently of the Sloan-Kettering Institute and past Chief of the Nuclear Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. 

 

The backdrop for the meeting includes exciting developments in the nuclear medicine world such as the development of newly approved radiopharmaceuticals for lymphoscintigraphy and instrumentation such as PET/MRI.  Challenges for nuclear medicine include continued downward pressures on imaging from third-party payers, the skyrocketing price of Tc-99m MAA, and the ongoing search for a reliable domestic supply of Mo-99/Tc-99m in the face of expected shutdown of the Canadian NRU reactor in 2016.  Although the job market for physicians has improved incrementally, opportunities for nuclear medicine technologists remain limited.  Challenges for medicine in general include disruptive changes in the form of ICD-10 codes and the emergence of capitation in Accountable Care Organization models.  Meanwhile, the net effect of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare remains to unfold as Boomers continue to age..  

 

Although challenges abound, nuclear medicine remains a vital part of medicine and health care, and our Annual Meeting will give us opportunities to gather and enjoy each other's fellowship, to share our knowledge and experience, and to return home with a renewed ability to provide valuable care to our neighbors and families.  Please come join us!

 


Do you know who your SECSNMMI and  
SECSNMMI-TS Officers Are?

 

Click here to find out! 

 


Adventist University of Health Sciences

formerly called
Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences

 

Joe Hawkins, M.S.Ed., CNMT, Program Director

 

Liz Duncan, MSHS, CNMT, ARRT (CT), Clinical Coordinator

 

Yes, we have a new name!   In 2013, Florida Hospital College of Health Sciences changed names.  We are now Adventist University of Health Sciences.  Our university has grown to include a campus in Denver, Colorado and added several Master's Degree programs.      

 

The other exciting news includes that our ADU program graduated our first Bachelor's Degree class for Nuclear Medicine Technology.  There were six students that graduated in April 2014.  The students benefited from extended clinical training, journal research classes, and advanced imaging education like MR and CT.  

 

Our program was also visited by the JRCNMT last year.  We received the maximum reaccreditation award of 7 years.


Click here for program information.

 


University of Alabama at Birmingham, Nuclear Medicine Technology Program

 

SECSNMMI Newsletter Report 

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Nuclear Medicine Technology (NMT) Program graduated 18 students on Saturday, April 26th, 2014. They were: Jonathon Barnes, Justin Church, Evan Crisp, Stephanie Doran, Britney Gamble, Jerikah Madden, Tara May, Andrea Patterson, Michael Pugh, Rebecca Sexton, Marcy Sharp, Sydney Tew, Breona Thurman, Michael Tran, Breeanna Vaughn, Retta Watkins, Helena Wyckoff and Amanda Zuaiter.  Six of these students have stayed on to complete a Computed Tomography concentration this summer. Graduating seniors who received special recognition awards were Stephanie M. Doran who received the Ann M. Steves Outstanding Student Clinic award, Michael R. Pugh who received the Michael A. Thompson Outstanding Student Scholar award and Michael L. Tran who received the Mallinckrodt Outstanding Student Award. The UAB Program Faculty wish these former students great success in their future endeavors and as they grow in the profession.  The 2013 best clinical site award this year went to Walker Medical Diagnostics, LLC for going above and beyond in helping our students.

 

The UAB NMT program has accepted 20 students for the Fall 2014 starting class. This class will be the last baccalaureate class for the UAB NMT Program as it transitions to begin an entry level Master of Science Degree for NMTs going forward. The program will continue to offer two concentrations associated with the NMT degree, one in CT and the other in MRI. The students can choose one or the other to pursue in addition to completing the NMT degree. 


Contact Us 

 

Southeastern Chapter SNM
1240 Iroquois Avenue, Ste. 106
Naperville, Illinois 60563
Ph:  630/428-3877
Email: info@secsnm.org

Web Site:  www.secsnm.org

 

Abstracts To Be Accepted for 2014 SECSNMMI Annual Meeting
 

Jon A. Baldwin, DO, MBS

University of Alabama at Birmingham
 

On behalf of David Brandon, MD, the Program Chair of the Southeastern Chapter of the Society of Nuclear Medicine Annual Meeting, I would like to make you aware of an exciting opportunity for technologists, technologist students, residents, and medical physicist trainees.

 

I will once again be administrating the Abstract Sessions for the coming meeting in Orlando.  I am also the Program Director of the Nuclear Medicine Residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  As a Program Director, it is my mission to promote scholarly activities amongst my residents and fellows; not simply to fulfill ACGME mandates, but to promote and encourage academic and research interest in the Nuclear Medicine profession.  I am also painfully aware of the paucity of quality venues at which students, residents and fellows can give presentations.  As I am heavily involved in the training of technologist students as well, I know there are seemingly even fewer settings at which they may present their work.

 

Click here for the full article.

 


Want to see what our State organizations are doing?

 

Alabama

Georgia

Florida

Kentucky

North Carolina

South Carolina

Tennessee 


Chattanooga State Community College

Nuclear Medicine Technology Program

 

Leesa Ross, MA, CNMT, PET, RT(N)(CT) 

Chattanooga State Community College's Nuclear Medicine Technology Program currently has 11 students scheduled to graduate August 7, 2014.  The students are located in Atlanta, Macon, GA, Chattanooga, Cookeville, Knoxville, and Nashville, TN.  The students have been very active this year within the profession, while also taking the time to participate in community service activities.  They performed fund raising by selling t-shirts in order for them to attend the Nuclear Medicine Technologist of Tennessee (NMTT) meeting and Student Registry Review Workshop March 28-29, 2014 in Chattanooga, TN. 

 

Each year the NMTT accepts

abstract submissions from each of the schools in Tennessee. Four students selected from the

Erica Baxter, Second Place Poster Award Winner at NMTT Annual Meeting in March 2014

submissions present his/her abstract at the NMTT annual meeting.  This year, Erica Baxter, presented her abstract on "Iodine-124 and Differentiated Thyroid Cancer:  Advances in Metastatic Imaging".  The top three presenters selected will win cash awards and Ms. Baxter won first place.  Ms. Baxter also won second place for her poster submission.

 

For more information regarding the program, please contact Leesa Ross at (423) 697-3331 or Dusty York at (423) 697-3335.

 


Bluegrass Community & Technical College, Lexington KY

 

Charles H Coulston, MSEd, CNMT, RT(N)(R)

Program Director

Three students graduated in May 2014 and within 3-4 weeks had passed the NMTCB.  These students displayed case studies at the KSNMT meeting in Elizabethtown KY in March 2014.  At least one came away from the meeting with a contact about a job.

 

For the first time in several years, these graduates have had at least the opportunity to apply for jobs in nuclear medicine immediately after school.  All 3 have applied for PRN positions across Kentucky in or near their hometowns.  At least one has already started to work.  While PRN is not my first preference for these graduates, it appears to be working well with life situations for 2 of them.  At least 2 of them plan to continue with school to finish BS or BHS degrees while they work. 

 

Five students are continuing from the first to the second year of the program. 

 

In addition to their course work, these students have started to present case studies in class, attend the radiology residents nuclear medicine lectures presented by the University of KY nuclear medicine physicians, and most importantly begun to work with some independence to produce diagnostic-quality studies. 


St. Vincent's Medical Center Nuclear Medicine Technology Program Update   

 

LeRoy H. Stecker, III, Program Director

The St. Vincent's Medical Center Nuclear Medicine Technology Program remains strong.  Our current group of students was fortunate to be able to attend the 2014 SNMMI annual meeting, where they met many new friends and returned with a new level of excitement for the profession.  They anticipate attending the Southeastern Chapter meeting in Orlando in October and will graduate in December.  All expect to qualify for and take the ARRT CT examination in addition to the nuclear medicine examinations.  Our 17th class has been selected, consisting of four women and two men.  Their class will begin on September 2.

Message from the SECSNMMI-TS President

 

Cynthia Elliott Brodnax, CNMT, RT(R,CT)

 

Wow, has this year flown by!  It seems like only yesterday that I threw my name in the hat to run for Pres-elect of the TS. Lots of meetings, lots of planning, a fair amount of travel, lots of conversations with members of other Chapter s and my term is almost completed.

 

I have been able to attend the past two Annual meetings, first in Vancouver, where my suitcase with 6 days of clothes  in it, arrived a day later than I did and most recently the Annual meeting in St. Louis.

I also attended the Mid-Winter meetings, one held in New Orleans, where I also attended the Leadership Academy and the Palm Springs Mid-Winter.

 

At each of these National meetings I sat in on as many committee meetings as I could. As TS-President I was a voting member of the Committee on Chapters and the SNMMI House of Delegates. Being included in the governance of the SNMMI really opened my eyes as to the enormity of our professional society. Sitting around the table were members from every chapter, all across the USA and parts of Canada, each with their own issues but most sharing common problems, declining membership, lack of jobs for graduating technologists and residents, product unavailability and ways to encourage new members.

 

A few of the Chapters are really focusing on communication to their membership. Most of the Chapters have websites for distribution of information and some still send flyers out via the ammo boxes. It seems that one of the biggest challenges is membership. So many Technologist students and Residents are taking advantage of the free membership but are not continuing their membership after graduation. Several years ago the SNMMI created a new category for these graduates called In Transition membership, but only about half of the free membership category seems to be converting to this discounted category. 

 

Click here for the full article.


 SNMMI Announces 
Aaron Scott, MIS, CNMT, NMAA, FSNMMI-TS,
as President-Elect of Technologist Section 
 

St. Louis, Mo. - Aaron Scott, MIS, CNMT, NMAA, FSNMMI-TS, a nuclear medicine advanced associate at Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville, Ga., has been elected as the 2014-15 president-elect of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Technologist Section (SNMMI-TS). The new slate of officers was introduced during the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging's (SNMMI) 2014 Annual Meeting, June 7-11, in St. Louis, Mo.

 

"SNMMI-TS is a valuable society for members in many ways, a point I plan to highlight throughout my term as president-elect," said Scott. "First, I'd like to make the organization appealing to prospective members, encouraging them not only to join, but also to become active members and have their voices heard. Another goal of mine is to make the SNMMI-TS Career Center the primary search engine for jobs in the field."

 

Click here for the full article.


NMT News from University of Mississippi Medical Center

June 2014

 

Sherry J. West, MS, CNMT, RT(R)(N)

Program Director, Nuclear Medicine Technology

A Bit of History: For over thirty years, the University of Mississippi Medical Center has sponsored the state's only accredited nuclear medicine technology program.  The program existed in a hospital-based format until 2010, when it became an academic-based, post- baccalaureate program within the School of Health Related Professions (SHRP).  In addition to JRCNMT requirements, current applicants must have a Bachelor's degree and hold a credential/licensure in an allied health profession.  The transition to this post-baccalaureate/credential format strengthened the program's clinical and didactic components and provided important research opportunities for NMT students.  Our program has a 100% graduation rate, 0% attrition rate, and 100% pass rate on ARRT (N) and NMTCB board examinations.  Many graduates are employed in NM departments across Mississippi and surrounding states, and some have chosen to use their NMT education to work as application specialists, as radiology department managers, as consultants, or educators.  Others have continued their education in medical, pharmacy, and law schools.  

 

The Class of 2014:  This year,

Photo names, from left to right: Jennifer Tucker Sherry West, Program Director Chelsea Palmer Lee Brown

students presented abstracts in the student competition at the state conference of the Mississippi SNMMI.  Jennifer Tucker won first place ($100) for her abstract, "It's the Small Things That Count."  Lee Brown was second ($75) for his abstract, "Lung Wars," and Chelsea Palmer placed third ($50) for her presentation, "The New Frontier of PET/MRI."  The students also presented abstracts at the 39th Annual SHRP Research Day, where Jennifer Tucker placed third.  In March, the class enjoyed the opportunity to interact with other NMT students during the SouthWest SNMMI meeting in New Orleans, LA. The students have been busy since graduating in May - they passed both the ARRT (N) and NMTCB examinations and have all begun employment in the nuclear medicine field.  Here at SHRP, we are proud and humbled to see our tradition of excellence continue!