March 17, 2003
A: FROM MENTOR JOAN LUSK IN RI
I have a friend who teaches the technicians (and doctors) at a
hospital in Burlington, Vermont. From what she tells me,
understanding how the radiology instruments - CT scanners, X-ray,
mammograms, sonograms - all work is a major part of what they have
to learn. Understanding the machines and procedures requires
understanding particle physics - what are X-rays and how do they
interact with the body and how do we create an image that reveals the
body's structure. Understanding particle physics requires
understanding physics in general - laws of motion, electricity and
magnetism, even motion at relativistic speed. This requires math.

In high school the most important preparation would be getting enough
math to take physics with calculus early in your college career. The
more biological aspects are, first of all, not so hierarchical in
nature - it's not so important to get a thorough understanding of
fundamental matters before moving on to more modern science. And the
technologies are evolving so rapidly - new techniques being invented
- that if you were to try to learn exactly what today's techniques
are, your information would be very out of date in five years anyway.

The health care classes may be very interesting and you may learn
more about exactly which career in health care you'd like most. But
do get that firm grounding in math now!