Laura MPA, RT (CT)

Dr. Pierce served as a radiologic technologist (RT) at Stanford University for 22 years, managing the growth of the lab from one site with a single employee to two sites with nine technologists, two administrators, and one database administrator. Three years ago she moved to Duke University, where she runs the 3D postprocessing lab. She's been delivering lectures at the MDCT meeting since 2001.

Pierce said she's found that labs with technologists performing most of the postprocessing duties have more consistent 3D datasets than labs with radiologists handling the postprocessing. She now spends much of her time training technologists, as a complement to their training in image acquisition. She focuses on teaching RTs how to look at images, determine the location of pathology, and then display and measure the region of interest to enable the referring physician and radiologist to arrive at the proper diagnosis together.

Dr. Pierce sees the rise of advanced visualization as opening up a whole new career path for technologists. RTs who focus on 3D imaging learn a new range of skills, going beyond just postprocessing to comparing current studies to priors, performing quantitative analysis, and looking up patient histories. "It's not all about nice fluffy pictures anymore," she told AuntMinnie.com.