From Student-Athlete to Nuclear Medicine Technologist and Undergraduate Program Director

In my video, I interviewed Mrs. Sara Maynard. Mrs. Sara Maynard currently works as both the Undergraduate Program Director of Nuclear Medicine Technology at Old Dominion University and nuclear medicine technologist at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
She obtained her bachelors in Nuclear Medicine Technology from ODU. She would then obtain her master’s in health Professions Education from EVMS while working full time and raising her newborn. She is now currently working on her PhD on Education Psychology at ODU part time.

Mrs. Sara Maynard’s interest in nuclear medicine technology came from the healthcare (nurse) background of her mother and engineering aspects of her father’s career. She would appreciate the field as it combined both of her interests.
After Mrs. Maynard graduated from ODU, she was able to get a chief tech position at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Later on, the past program director would ask her to succeed the nuclear medicine technology program as director which would lead her to working on gaining teaching experience.
As a nuclear medicine technologist, she is responsible for quality control and has to make sure that the workers are working with functioning equipment. Additionally, she also takes and processes pictures of patients, works with the doctors, etc.
As Mrs. Maynard continues to work, she appreciates the fact that there is still so much to learn and how she sees new things all the time. On top of that, she notices that time management is the most challenging aspect of her career. There could be a lot of events going on and she is the one responsible on what must be completed first.
A piece of advice she gives to people getting into the health field is to observe someone who is currently working in the field that they aspire to be. She mentioned her own story of how she thought she wanted to be a PA, but once she saw what they did, she realized that it was not for her. Her advice is to tell students that before they fully dive into a career, it would be best to test the waters before they have regrets.
Something I learned from this interview with her is that it is important to commit to achieving goals despite it being challenging because the hard work (and caffeine) will help reach those goals. Mrs. Maynard was able to balance raising her child, working full time while furthering her education. All of those activities require a lot of time and effort, but she did not give up on her role in any of them. I always told myself that after I had kids that I would not go back to school and be alright with my bachelors, but her story moves me to strive further.