Nancy Dodge is the coordinator of medical radiography at Beckman Institute’s Biomedical Imaging Center at the UI South Farms. A lifelong resident of Farmer City, Dodge worked at Carle Foundation Hospital for 28 years before coming to the UI. While employed at Carle, Dodge acted as coordinator between Beckman and Carle. Dodge has a new granddaughter, 9-month-old Madison, whom she often visits in Savannah, Ga.
How did you end up at the UI?
I had been working at Carle Foundation Hospital for 28 years in the X-ray and MRI departments before I was offered my current position at the UI. The job switch came at a perfect time. It was time for a change in my life. Working here is nice because it’s a different pace than the hospital.
What are your job duties?
I am an MRI technologist, which means I run the scanner during experiments that different campus labs conduct on the human brain. Many of the tests are functional MRIs, which means the subject is performing tasks as they are lying in the MRI machine. Sometimes the subject is instructed to watch a screen or react to a certain stimulus so we can see what part of their brain is activated while they are doing the task. Sometimes they wear special goggles or press keys on a button box to respond to a color or a word. The tests are sometimes difficult to perform, but they allow us to see what part of the brain is responding. We conduct tests on a variety of things in the brain, including differences in culture, aging and exercise. We also do research on other parts of the body. Examples are muscles, heart, swallowing functions, speech, engineering and more.
I’m also responsible for scheduling, billing, helping set up protocols and whatever else is needed.
Why did you choose a career working with MRI?
When I was younger, I decided to go in to the medical field because I wanted to help people. I found a lot of satisfaction by doing this at Carle. Now, working in research is something that also helps people in a different way. The more we know about the brain, the more we can help surgeons, researchers and patients. I feel just as satisfied doing this work and it’s very exciting to be on the cutting edge of science and medicine. Instead of giving people a prognosis, here we are understanding how brain functions – which is still a great mystery.
What kind of educational background do you have?
After high school, I attended the Bloomington-Normal School of Radiological Technology. Then I worked as an X-ray tech for my first 10 years in the medical field, doing ultrasounds, CAT scans, general X-rays and fluoroscopy (stomachs and colons). Then I decided to study for the MRI registry in 1993, and have worked as an MRI tech for 18 years. There were no MRI schools then – we learned and studied with the help of radiologists.
What’s the most challenging part of your job?
Probably doing the billing and keeping everything straight. I have to keep track of the many different labs who test here, and who needs to be charged what.
What do you do in your spare time?
I like to spend time with my daughter Jessica in Savannah, Ga. She is married and her husband is in Iraq. They have a 9-month-old daughter, Madison, so now I’m a grandma. Jessica’s husband, Cliff, is in the Army until the end of next summer. This is his second tour overseas; last year he was in Fallujah and now he is in Baghdad. We are very proud of him, but it’s so hard for him to be gone. Jessica works at a bank in Hinesville, Ga., and attended Parkland College while she still lived in this area.
I’ve been married 32 years. My husband, Steve, has farmed most of his life, but the ground that we farmed was recently sold so now he is looking for a new career.
I like to read mystery or true crime books and do oil paintings of scenery and landscapes. James Patterson is my favorite author. However, gardening is my main obsession. I’ve got about eight flower gardens of all different kinds. We’ve got pot gardens, Russian sage, black-eyed Susans and all kinds of different flowers and ornamental grasses. Needless to say, I spend a lot of time weeding! I didn’t start gardening until the last 15 years or so. It relaxes me. I like doing something and seeing the results and having a sense of pride in my work. All summer I can enjoy what I planted. I work out a lot of stress when I’m tending to my garden.
