By Matt Skoufalos
In her childhood years, Elyce Wolfgang recalls time spent supporting her grandfather as he battled metastatic prostate cancer in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Whether at an office appointment or during a hospitalization, the family was with him as much as it could be. When they couldn’t be there, however, Elyce remembers her grandfather’s caretakers as “the kindest and most accommodating people; the most family-centric providers.”
“I still to this day think it’s just amazing,” she said. “From that point on, I definitely wanted to do something healthcare-related to help people, and make them feel the same way that those folks made my family feel.”
She also helps others through volunteer work as a youth sports coach, mentor and with the Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA).
In high school, as Elyce prepared to enter the workforce, she shadowed her older brother, a pharmacist, to learn about the practicalities of his career path. When the work didn’t resonate with her interests, a family friend who managed a radiation therapy department in nearby York, Pennsylvania, offered for Elyce to follow along with a radiation therapist there. As she began doing so, however, she couldn’t shake the memories of her grandfather’s passing; it felt too closely connected with the work she was seeing. But after Elyce learned that many radiation therapists start their careers as X-ray technologists, her view of the imaging field opened up more broadly.
“You get to see more than just cancer patients,” Elyce said; “you get to see pediatric cases, and babies, and adults, for all different sorts of reasons. So, she had me shadow in the local X-ray department, and I was like, ‘This is so cool.’ ”
Elyce continued her education at Bloomsburg University, where she played field hockey for three years and the team won two national championships as well as posting an undefeated season. She also reconnected with Eric, a cross-country and track runner she’d known since childhood. The two later married, and had two children together: Bastian and Harbor.
After Bloomsburg, Eric began working as a teacher, and Elyce pursued a radiography training program at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. She worked as a student intern on evenings and weekends to gain extra experience, and upon graduating in 2005, was offered a job with the onsite imaging department.
“I figured, ‘Why not?’” Elyce said. “I loved working there; I loved the environment and the variety of stuff that we got to do.”
“I stayed on board there for almost 15 years total, and went all the way from student intern all the way up to assistant director,” she added.
In 2019, WellSpan York Hospital was advertising an opening for an imaging director, and Elyce, who had been commuting to Baltimore for work, seized the opportunity to serve people in the community in which she’d grown up. She spent four years as the WellSpan imaging director, and two more as senior imaging director for the WellSpan health system. Today, Elyce oversees more than 1,000 imaging employees across seven hospitals throughout south-central Pennsylvania.
When Bastian and Harbor were younger, Elyce dedicated her free time to coaching field hockey; since the children started their own athletic and musical pursuits, she and Eric have obligated themselves to cheering on their kids.
For some down time, however, the family is “Lego-obsessed,” Elyce said, a hobby begun when her uncle handed down some legacy sets in their earlier years.
“Over the summer, when they don’t have school, they will go in the basement and trudge through Lego pieces to find all the parts that they need to build old-school things, which is pretty cool,” she said.
The kids enjoy Star Wars Legos; Elyce likes to build the botanical sets. The family also spends time together camping, hiking and fishing. But when Elyce needs a little time to herself, nothing compares with taking in the country air on Princess, her green Vespa Primavera 150 scooter.
In late 2020, Elyce was diagnosed with cancer, which she was able to address through surgery.
She’s grateful to be cancer-free for four years running.
As an imaging professional, “now I’m on the patient side of imaging every six months,” Elyce said. “I get scans, and everything’s been fine.”
Nonetheless, the experience led her to indulge her dream of open-air riding.
“I was like, ‘Life’s too short. I want to buy a Vespa.’”
From mid-March to mid-November, Elyce rides around in nature, appreciating the Pennsylvania countryside.
“She’s beautiful,” Elyce said. “I kind of got her as a little bit of a midlife crisis.”
As her career advanced, Elyce also earned a master’s degree in health administration (MHA) at Penn State University, and was invited to join the Board of Visitors at that program, which she now chairs. Within that role, she supports master’s degree candidates, and helps the program keep its curriculum current with healthcare trends. Elyce also visits the campus once a year to conduct mock job interviews that can assist students in their professional development.
“We judge case competitions; we help connect people with mentorship,” she said. “It’s really about ensuring that MHA students have everything that they need to be successful and well-rounded. Then, by the time they graduate, they have an amazing degree from Penn State, and connections to facilitate potential employment opportunities.”
Beyond her role with the MHA program at Penn State, Elyce was also elected to the board of directors of the Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA). Currently, she serves on its editorial review committee, benchmarking task force, and annual design team, which identifies speakers and develops programming for the AHRA annual meeting.
“I just love the fact that I can give back to the organization that has given me so much over the years in my career,” Elyce said.
“I feel like it’s really important to have that continual growth and development mindset, and let me hear from my peers how they’re doing something, so I can learn from that and do better.”
