L Struck

L Struck

Job Description

Nuclear Medicine looks at how the body/organs/disease works. We use radioactive tracers (not a dye) that we attach to a molecule that the organ or disease we want to look at naturally uses. We then take pictures of how that molecule is working in the body with a large camera (looks like a donut). Our test or unique to each patient and we get to spend a lot of time with patients (our test are long). We are like puzzles and nuclear medicine helps to find the pieces of the puzzle so the doctor can help to see what is going on. We do a wide variety of tests for a wide variety of problems. It is a very interesting field that is constantly changing, my job is never boring. We can see broken bones that an xray cannot see, we can watch a heart beating and we can help cancer patients with their treatment needs, and many other things. It is a very rewarding job, I really like that I get to help people.

Relevant School Subjects

Health and Physical Education

Areas Of Expertise

Medical & Health

Career Story

For the Nuclear medicine program a candidate needs to have at least one year of certain university courses. There is only 5 schools in Canada that offer Nuclear Medicine, the closest is the Michener Institute in Toronto (affiliated with the University of Toronto). With the one year of university science courses the NM program is a 3 year (4years in total) degree program. You receive a degree in Medical Radiation Sciences