Candice Yee, RDMS, Abdomen and OB/GYN; RVT, is currently a sonographer at Stanford Health Care. Growing up in California’s Bay Area, Yee holds a master’s degree in industrial-organizational psychology after first earning a bachelor’s in psychology. She later earned an Associate of Occupational Science in Ultrasound Technology at Gurnick Academy.
“For many years, I had a successful career within a large corporate setting with absolutely no medical background or experience,” Yee explains. “It was only after being a patient myself, that it became clear how much of a powerful impact medical professionals have on people’s lives. Realizing this forced me to reflect upon my own purpose in life and inspired me to explore a new career in which I could positively impact people during, in many cases, a vulnerable time. This calling to make more of a difference while still being able to utilize my core strengths and skills led me to the study of sonography.”
ICE magazine found out more in a quick interview with this rising star.
Q: Where did you receive your imaging training/education? What degrees/certifications do you have?
A: I received my didactic training at Gurnick Academy and my clinical training at Stanford Health Care. I’m a registered diagnostic medical sonographer (RDMS) in both abdomen and OB/GYN and also a registered vascular technologist (RVT).
Q: What do you like most about your position?
A: I love that with sonography, I am continually learning and growing as a technician and always being challenged on my critical thinking skills. I enjoy the variety of scans I do on any given day, such as liver transplant dopplers, hepatoma surveys, appendicitis rule-outs, thyroids, DVT rule-outs, just to name a few. I also assist with procedures such as thyroid FNAs and renal transplant biopsies. I also value the high accountability sonographers have with being the “eyes” for the radiologist. Sonographers are storytellers – the images I capture and document for the reading radiologist are key to how they ultimately dictate and determine their reports for every patient. Where I work at Stanford Health Care, sonographers verbally present every case they scan to the reading radiologist or fellow before the patient is let go. This process facilitates a high standard of imaging quality amongst our sonography team as well as a strong partnership between the sonographers and radiologists.
Q: What interests you the most about the imaging field?
A: I am still amazed at just how much of our internal body we can image safely and at low-risk to the patient with just high-frequency sound waves. When the right imaging modality is utilized, many times unnecessary and, often risky, invasive surgeries can be averted. As the technology continues to advance, I can’t wait to see what else we’ll be able to do next for the patient.
Q: What has been your greatest accomplishment in your field thus far?
A: I consider my greatest accomplishment to be every day I am able to help a patient – whether it be images I took that were used to help diagnose, treat, and cure a disease or life threatening illnesses for a patient, or a comforting gesture given during an emotional moment for a patient.
