September 26, graduate students of DKU Medical Physics program went on an exciting field trip led by Dr. James Bowsher, Director of Graduate Studies of DKU Medical Physics, and Dr. Tim Turkington, Director of Graduate Studies of Duke University Medical Physics. The trip was for the students to conduct a practicum in PET-CT diagnosis at the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, where the PET-CT system is also owned by Suzhou Municipal Hospital. As key provincial hospitals in Jiangsu Province, these two hospitals’ nuclear medicine department is equipped with state-of-the-art PET-CT and SPECT-CT systems supplied by GE, Siemens, and Philips. The PET-CT system is the same as one of the clinical systems at Duke University’s Medical Center.
Dr. Pan Lvde talks with Dr. James Bowsher and DKU student Shangbang Luo.
Dr. Pan, Director of the Nuclear Medicine Department from Suzhou Municipal Hospital, gave DKU students and professors a warm welcome and introduction. They first paid a visit to the hospital’s imaging department and then to the PET-CT room, where they had their unique ‘class’. Dr. Turkington led discussions on theoretical and technical knowledge about PET-CT imaging, and students also actively interacted with technologists, physicists, and physicians at the hospital about their routine work as well as career development.
Dr. Tim Turkington with DKU Medical Physics students Wang Hongyuan, Zhu Wei, Edcer Laguda, Shangbang Luo, and Li Tian.
Field trips, as an essential complement to classroom teaching, are emphasized by the DKU Medical Physics Program. The program’s curriculum features a number of such trips throughout the study at DKU. On September 19, students made their first field trip to Suzhou Municipal Hospital, where they explored the working principles of gamma cameras and dose calibrators, including data collection and analysis on a Philips SPECT system. Meanwhile, DKU Medical Physics professors are also developing collaborations with hospitals in surrounding cities, in order to provide more clinical and research opportunities for students.
