Its great to hear that you are considering a career in diagnostic medical sonography (DMS). I frequently do presentations at local high schools to make students aware of the field and to promote it as a career. I'd be happy to answer these questions as well as any others you may have.
1. What is your education background and what math courses did you take in high school and college? In all honesty, I was a pretty average high school student. I took general math courses and algebra in HS and college. However, I learned more math in college level physics courses than I ever learned in math. College physics generally is a required course if you go on to attend a college-based DMS program (that grants a BS degree) which I would strongly encourage you to do (as opposed to a certificate program).
2. What is your work history? I worked for a few years as a clinical sonographer doing exams on patients. Eventually, because I worked in an academic institution, I migrated to part-time research work in DMS and for the last 20 years or so I have done research full-time. I also worked part time in a private physician office doing patient exams (a good way to earn extra income and very common in the field).
3. How is math used is your career? The physics of using sound (or ultrasound) is predictable by knowing various acoustic properties and how sound behaves which is all based on math. Knowing all of the physical principles is perhaps not something the sonographer thinks about everyday because the machines we use do a lot of the work for us now (unlike the past) but it is a requirement to understand the physics of using sound energy and you will be tested on it to become certified to work (a requirement). We use math more directly every day both during patient exams (measuring the size of structures and calculating various ratios) and in research (data analysis, etc.).
4. What advice can you give me? The best advice I always suggest is for you to try to volunteer at a hospital or get some first-hand expose to that - ideally in the sonography (ultrasound) section to see what the work is really like. Not only do sonographers use cutting edge technology (which is usually the thing that draws people to the field) but we also have to have a desire to help people- specifically sick people. I've found that that's not something that a lot of high school students think about - the practical aspects of working in healthcare. If you are someone who is skittish around sick people or "can't stand the sight of blood" this may not be the best choice of a career. Of course there are other opportunities in the DMS field like working for a company the makes equipment, etc but in virtually all cases those people began by working in a hospital. Virtually all healthcare careers - including DMS - are very good from a job security perspective which may be an important consideration in these economic times and the future.
5. What did you want to be when you grew up? (that's my own question) I was (and still am) an "outdoorsy" person. I like to hike, camp, etc and I liked the life-sciences (biology) in HS. I originally planned to go to college for forestry, wild life management, park ranger, or something along those lines. However the economics of college were difficult for me and eventually my path took me into the US Navy where I was a Sonarman for 4 years. I "travelled the world" - there were no wars going on, so I enjoyed it - and soon became facinated with the use of sound as a means to locate objects and navigate. (SONAR is short for sound, navigation and raging). I learned about medical ultrasound while in the Navy and because it looked like a promising career, after the navy I went to college to get a BS degree in DMS - its been a great combination of life sciences and physics.
GOOD LUCK!
Dan M
If you contact me directly at realtime911@yahoo.com I can email to you additional information. Also check these websites for more info on DMS careers:
www.ardms.org
www.sdms.org
http://www.aium.org