Justin Kern, RT (R,CT), is a multi-modality technologist at St. Joseph Medical Center in Houston, Texas. He earned an associate degree in radiology from Houston Community College before beginning his imaging career. ICE magazine recently found out more about this rising star.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: I’m from St. Charles Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Q: Where did you receive your imaging training/education?
A: I received my associate degree in radiology from Houston Community College. As a student, I was fortunate to rotate through several large hospitals in the medical center here in Houston. I have a CT certification from ARRT’s post-primary eligibility pathway.
Q: How did you first decide to start working in imaging?
A: I was originally an English and history major at Ohio State University. I eventually decided I wanted a career in health care. I think it was because of my own experience in a hospital during a surgery I underwent in my early 20s. I looked at the hospital environment and thought, “I want to work here.” Imaging was the open road I saw that would take me into the hospital setting professionally, and it has opened a lot of doors for me.
Q: What do you like most about your position?
A: I work in the emergency room for a hospital in downtown Houston. I never know what to expect – every day brings surprises and challenges. I like that.
Q: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
A: I help with the treatment of patients every day who are not only ill or injured, but who are on the fringes of society, for one reason or another. I go home every day knowing I am helping people who truly are in need, and that just feels good. I don’t have to wonder whether my job or my life is making the world a better place. I know it is, at least a little bit.
Q: What interests you the most about the imaging field?
A: Imaging is a profession that is accessible to anybody with motivation, and which opens up all kinds of different upward paths and opportunities.
Q: What has been your greatest accomplishment in your field thus far?
A: Making it through the COVID-19 pandemic. The whole year of 2020, from February to September in particular, was just a very difficult, frightening and confusing time. Every suspected case, nearly every patient, required a chest X-ray. I was up to my neck in COVID for a while, although I managed to avoid getting sick myself. I’m glad that the worst of that seems to be behind us.
Q: What goals do you have for yourself in the next 5 years?
A: Sometimes I wonder about unconventional imaging jobs, like an imaging tech on a cruise ship, or an imaging tech at NASA. I wonder how someone ends up in those kinds of positions. I think it might be interesting to do something like that some day.
