Published: October 24, 2009 11:37 pm      

‘It is an exciting field’: Radiologist operates ‘behind the scenes’

JOHNSTOWN — Growing up in the Queens section of New York City, Lisa Corrente always thought about being a doctor.

“I talked to my mother,” Corrente said at Laurel Highlands Advanced Imaging, 1450 Scalp Ave. “She thought it was a solid career. She wanted me to be independent.”

The pivotal factor came when she read “The Making of a Surgeon,” by William Nolan.

“After that, I loved surgery,” Corrente said “All wanted to be was a surgeon.”

Through college at New York University and her medical education at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada, that passion continued.

Then came her internship at New York Medical College Sound and Shore Medical Center.

Much of her surgical work relied on the images created and analyzed by radiologists.

Using X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography and ultrasound, the medical specialty crosses all areas of treatment.

“During internship I liked surgery, but I became more interested in radiology,” Corrente said. “I realized how instrumental radiology is in every type of medicine, especially surgery.”

Successful diagnostics, treatment and follow-up care can all depend on the radiologist’s skill, she said.

“You don’t operate on anyone without a picture,” she said.

Corrente said she surprised herself with the change in direction.

“In medical school I thought it was the most ridiculous specialty,” she said. “You are behind the scenes. You almost don’t get any credit.”

Moving into the hospital setting helped Corrente find her true calling.

“I realized it is an exciting field,” she said.

Interventional radiologists work directly with patients and perform procedures, so that seemed like a natural switch – until the petite young woman did some self-assessment.

“They wear lead aprons all day,” she said. “It was hard on me.”

She found a mentor in Dr. Jeremy Kaye during her residency in diagnostic radiology at St. Vincent’s Hospital with New York Medical College.

The five-year residency was followed by a fellowship study in magnetic resonance imaging and musculoskeletal radiology at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center.

At the end of that residency, she heard about the need for an MRI-musculoskeletal specialist in Johnstown.

“When I came here, it was almost like my fellowship prepared me specifically for the job here,” Corrente said.

Although she calls herself a “big city girl,” and admits she misses the 24-7 excitement and bustle of New York, she says she has found a home in Johnstown.

“I like the calm, the ease of getting around,” Corrente said. “There is less traffic and people are nicer.”

She has taken up golf and is on the Goodwill Industries Board of Directors.

“I like it here and I feel good about myself when I go home,” Corrente said. “That’s important.”

It took some time. Shortly after moving to Johnstown some upheaval in her personal life had her job shopping in New York.

But she was not very impressed with the big-city medicine she found in some private radiology practices that were hiring. She was even offered a teaching position with New York Medical College.

“Most people in my position would have flown the coop,” Corrente said. “But I am proud of the work here, and that’s why I stayed here.”

She said she has found new mentors in her colleagues at Laurel Highlands Advanced Imaging, which is affiliated with Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown.

“They don’t only make you better in medicine, but you find leadership skills and ways of conducting yourself,” she said.

“You learn how to become a doctor in ways that you don’t learn in medical school.

“It’s nice to admire the people you work with.”

Corrente’s expertise helped bring the breast MRI diagnostic program to Memorial. The breast MRI can be used to identify cancer or other bodies that a tradition mammogram might miss. It is used as a screening tool for some high-risk patients and as a diagnostic tool for others.

Surgeons can use the MRI results to guide biopsy needles to tricky lesions.

For Corrente, it’s personal.

“My mother and grandmother both diagnosed with breast cancer,” she said. “They both were treated and did quite well, although my grandmother has since died of unrelated causes.”

Corrente still travels regularly back to New York to visit her mother and other family and friends. Although the five-hour drive is tedious, she gave up on the idea of flying her own plane after 60 hours of lessons.

“I was ready to do my solo,” she said. “But there is so much studying involved. If I am reading and studying, I want to read and study medicine.”

In New York, she has begun co-hosting a weekly radio show on WGBB-AM 1240. “The Real Radio Show” airs at 7 p.m. Mondays, and is also broadcast on the Internet.