Gateway Community College’s (GCC) Nuclear Medicine Technology program has been awarded Continued Accreditation for the next seven years by the Joint Review Committee on Educational Programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology. GCC officials said they were thrilled that the program received the seven-year accreditation as it represents the maximum award given. 

“I am very proud of the excellent work of our Program Coordinator Beata Gebuza and our Clinical Coordinator Germaine Frosolone and the faculty,” said Marcia Doran, M.S., R.D., GCC professor and Allied Health Department chair. “They had a very successful and impressive site visit.”

The visiting committee praised the new facility at GCC which features a state-of-the-art nuclear medicine laboratory. The laboratory features three different rooms, a classroom, a radio pharmacy and an imaging room. The board also commended the supportive relationship that GCC has fostered with the 13 different clinical sites where students train.

“They visited few of our clinical sites and were very pleased with the training and support our students receive there and how much it complements what they learn in the classroom and in our own lab,” said Beata I. Gebuza, MS, CNMT, RTN, NCT, associate professor and program coordinator of GCC’s Nuclear Medicine Technology. “It takes a lot of effort to build relationships with the hospitals so that we can provide learning opportunities for our students. We are very happy to have received the seven-year accreditation.” 

The Accreditation Board commended the Nuclear Medicine Technology program on the variety of instructors in the program who offer students divergent viewpoints of the field. They also noted the positive reputation the program has in the community and the support GCC’s administration gives the program and its students. The board praised the program’s tutoring program where expert technologists tutor students after hours and said the new GCC campus as well as the Library and Learning Commons are outstanding educational facilities for students.

GCC’s Associate in Science degree and certificate programs in Nuclear Medicine Technology provide students the opportunity to train at some of the region’s leading health care facilities around the state including Yale-New Haven Hospital, YNHH-St. Raphael Campus, VA Connecticut Health Care at the West Haven campus, Griffin Hospital, Milford Hospital, Midstate Medical Center, Middlesex Hospital, Backus Hospital, Waterbury Hospital, Cardinal Health Nuclear Pharmacy, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, St. Francis Hospital and UCONN Health Center.

The Nuclear Medicine Technologist uses radioactive substances to diagnose or treat disease. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is the latest nuclear medicine technique being used for the diagnosis of cancer, brain abnormalities and cardiac diseases. GCC students are trained in all the latest technologies. In their first year, GCC students spend two days a week in clinical settings each semester and three days a week in their second year. In addition, they train 40 hours a week in a clinical setting during the summer and winter intersessions. “It is a very intense program,” Gebuza said.

GCC students can go on to work in a variety of clinical settings including community hospitals, university-affiliated teaching hospitals, outpatient imaging facilities, private physician’s offices and government and private research institutes. The program is proud of its 100 percent board pass rate on the first attempt the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board exam.