Heidi Rallison MS, RDMS, Clinical Product Specialist
@FUJIFILM SonoSite Inc. (great site to explore to learn more about where sonographer travel!)
Link to slides
When Heidi was 14 years old her family moved to Panama City, Panama. She was sad to leave her friends behind and didn't like her first year or two there. One day she had an ''Oh-wow!' moment. She realized even though she didn't like being there, at least she was smart and this was a good thing - so she decided to rebel by being good at school and throw herself into her education. She became motivated to be miserable no longer and started to get focused on her course work and classes. She took many AP classes in high school, and then attended a college program early (similar to running-start). Somehow she even became class vice president of her high school while she was at the college, though she actually didn't attend there very often! At college, she found she liked being there, and now realizes this was the gateway to the journey of developing herself.
Even though she had moved around a lot her family had always returned to Utah for vacations and visits, so as this felt like home she decided to attend Utah State University. The university presented more choices for her to study. She studied subjects she was genuinely interested in which included philosophy and democracy, which lead to her getting her degree in Political Science and International Relations.
After her undergraduate studies her friends told her she was great at public speaking and motivating others, and one friend suggested she take a Masters degree in Instructional Technology. This topic related to teaching, creating learning materials, advising others on teaching methods. To satisfy the degree she needed to complete a masters project. For this Heidi worked in HR and did some teaching and training with Vice Presidents. The HR group for whom she did the work liked her work and offered her a job which she took.
A few years later, 2004, she got engaged. The next decision was whether to pursue work in Washington DC or Washington State. They decided to move to Seattle. Heidi got a job at the University of Washington in the HR group in the medical school. She was teach adults and medical staff, and one of the topics she was providing instruction on was Ultra Sound. She really enjoyed the topic, and teaching it to emergency teams. Eventually she was interested enough that she decided to become certified in Ultrasound. She took the 2 year program at Bellevue College.
Heidi now works for a company called Sono Site Fuji Film. This company produces portable sonography equipment. The equipment they produce is not only used for medical purposes but can be used underwater, for emergency firefighters, in helicopters and much more! Heidi is responsible for several areas. She provides training and creates materials to train professionals - in the last year she has been to Dubai and London to give trainings. She is also a domain expert and works with the engineering teams as they are designing the products. For example when she first joined the team the engineering team didn't understand the importance of making the handle of the camera small enough so it could be comfortably held by a woman for 20-30 minutes at a time, the engineers had only held it in their large hands and wafted the camera around for a minute or two while testing it. She also demonstrated how it had to be very easy to adjust as when trying to get a specific view on the camera, and the patient is uncomfortable with the camera moving along the ribs - comfort matters. Her advice even makes a difference when it comes to thinking about how the device is cleaned. The device gets hot when it is used a lot so there is a slot for a fan to blow out the warm air. However the engineers had failed to consider that the gel that is used for the ultrasounds would get in the gaps and be hard to clean and not hygienic until Heidi pointed it out to them!
The work of sonographers is a growing field and is considered in in the top jobs available. The pay is good. To be good in this field requires being healthy as its a pretty physical job. You need dexterity and strength to be able to use the hand held camera for hours a day. The nice thing about the job is you can work full-time, part-time, and pick the hours you want to work. You can work with people or animals. It is a portable skill, as if you receive certification in the US that will help you get work worldwide.
If this is a field you'd like to go into then it's important to have good grades - keep up a good GPA to be able to get into the right programs. And if you're unsure this is the field you want to go into then consider taking a well rounded biology degree which would make it an easy transition after university to specialize in sonography.
There are other fields for medical imagery such as CT scans (radiation technology), and MRI (magnetic technology). Each of these fields requires certification, but if you have a strong grounding in human biology then you can easily move into these fields.
Heidi made the generous offer that if students wanted to see where she worked and learn more about her job then she'd be happy to have visitors spend a morning with her! That's a great opportunity if you're at all interested in this work. Her email address is in the attached slides, and your career teacher has her details too.
Resources
American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography® (ARDMS®)
Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS)
Seattle University - Diagnostic Ultrasound
Bellevue College - Diagnostic Ultrasound
@FUJIFILM SonoSite Inc. (great site to explore to learn more about where sonographer travel!)
Link to slides
When Heidi was 14 years old her family moved to Panama City, Panama. She was sad to leave her friends behind and didn't like her first year or two there. One day she had an ''Oh-wow!' moment. She realized even though she didn't like being there, at least she was smart and this was a good thing - so she decided to rebel by being good at school and throw herself into her education. She became motivated to be miserable no longer and started to get focused on her course work and classes. She took many AP classes in high school, and then attended a college program early (similar to running-start). Somehow she even became class vice president of her high school while she was at the college, though she actually didn't attend there very often! At college, she found she liked being there, and now realizes this was the gateway to the journey of developing herself.
Even though she had moved around a lot her family had always returned to Utah for vacations and visits, so as this felt like home she decided to attend Utah State University. The university presented more choices for her to study. She studied subjects she was genuinely interested in which included philosophy and democracy, which lead to her getting her degree in Political Science and International Relations.
After her undergraduate studies her friends told her she was great at public speaking and motivating others, and one friend suggested she take a Masters degree in Instructional Technology. This topic related to teaching, creating learning materials, advising others on teaching methods. To satisfy the degree she needed to complete a masters project. For this Heidi worked in HR and did some teaching and training with Vice Presidents. The HR group for whom she did the work liked her work and offered her a job which she took.
A few years later, 2004, she got engaged. The next decision was whether to pursue work in Washington DC or Washington State. They decided to move to Seattle. Heidi got a job at the University of Washington in the HR group in the medical school. She was teach adults and medical staff, and one of the topics she was providing instruction on was Ultra Sound. She really enjoyed the topic, and teaching it to emergency teams. Eventually she was interested enough that she decided to become certified in Ultrasound. She took the 2 year program at Bellevue College.
Heidi now works for a company called Sono Site Fuji Film. This company produces portable sonography equipment. The equipment they produce is not only used for medical purposes but can be used underwater, for emergency firefighters, in helicopters and much more! Heidi is responsible for several areas. She provides training and creates materials to train professionals - in the last year she has been to Dubai and London to give trainings. She is also a domain expert and works with the engineering teams as they are designing the products. For example when she first joined the team the engineering team didn't understand the importance of making the handle of the camera small enough so it could be comfortably held by a woman for 20-30 minutes at a time, the engineers had only held it in their large hands and wafted the camera around for a minute or two while testing it. She also demonstrated how it had to be very easy to adjust as when trying to get a specific view on the camera, and the patient is uncomfortable with the camera moving along the ribs - comfort matters. Her advice even makes a difference when it comes to thinking about how the device is cleaned. The device gets hot when it is used a lot so there is a slot for a fan to blow out the warm air. However the engineers had failed to consider that the gel that is used for the ultrasounds would get in the gaps and be hard to clean and not hygienic until Heidi pointed it out to them!
The work of sonographers is a growing field and is considered in in the top jobs available. The pay is good. To be good in this field requires being healthy as its a pretty physical job. You need dexterity and strength to be able to use the hand held camera for hours a day. The nice thing about the job is you can work full-time, part-time, and pick the hours you want to work. You can work with people or animals. It is a portable skill, as if you receive certification in the US that will help you get work worldwide.
If this is a field you'd like to go into then it's important to have good grades - keep up a good GPA to be able to get into the right programs. And if you're unsure this is the field you want to go into then consider taking a well rounded biology degree which would make it an easy transition after university to specialize in sonography.
There are other fields for medical imagery such as CT scans (radiation technology), and MRI (magnetic technology). Each of these fields requires certification, but if you have a strong grounding in human biology then you can easily move into these fields.
Heidi made the generous offer that if students wanted to see where she worked and learn more about her job then she'd be happy to have visitors spend a morning with her! That's a great opportunity if you're at all interested in this work. Her email address is in the attached slides, and your career teacher has her details too.
Resources
American Registry for Diagnostic Medical Sonography® (ARDMS®)
Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (SDMS)
Seattle University - Diagnostic Ultrasound
Bellevue College - Diagnostic Ultrasound