UC students present medical imaging research at international conference

Miranda Terry, a UC student studying advanced medical imaging technology, says it was Chuck Norris that inspired her research into gadolinium, a dye agent used in MRIs.

“Norris and his wife sued a few of the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA for $10 million because she said that she had three MRIs and started having cognitive deficits and burning throughout her body and her skin was becoming thickened and she thought it was because of the gadolinium,” says Terry. “There’s been a lot of research that shows that after as few as four exposures to gadolinium it’s deposited in neuro tissue as well as the spleen, liver and bone.”

Terry’s research will be featured in the poster presentation session at the annual meeting of the Society for MR Radiographers & Technologists (SMRT), May 10-13, 2019 in Montreal, along with Shannon Jewell, also a student in UC’s Advanced Medical Imaging Technology (AMIT) program in the College of Allied Health Sciences. This recognition of their innovative work is a key example of UC’s commitment to academic excellence as outlined in its strategic direction Next Lives Here.

Terry, who will graduate from the AMIT program at the end of the summer semester, examines “Gadolinium Retention: An Evaluation of the Risks Associated with Gadolinium Deposition in Human Tissue.” Gadolinium is a rare earth metal and gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) have been commonly used in MRIs to help diagnose a variety of disease processes since 1988. In 2017, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis was determined to be a clinical condition related to the administration of GBCAs.

Terry is unable to go to the conference, so Barry Southers, MEd, associate professor and director of the AMIT program, will be presenting her poster at the SMRT meeting. Jewell will be attending the meeting and plans to make it a learning experience.

“I can’t believe I was chosen, it’s an honor for sure,” says Jewel. “I want to check out other people’s posters and learn more about different imaging. The entire experience of being at the SMRT, being at a high-end conference will be exciting.”

Click here to learn more about the UC AMIT program.

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Featured image at top: AMIT student Miranda Terry with her research poster. Photo credit: Kaitlyn Maxwell/Marketing/CAHS.