{"id":3957,"date":"2016-11-17T14:36:53","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T19:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/radiology\/?p=3957"},"modified":"2017-11-06T12:46:58","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T17:46:58","slug":"thomas-huerta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/radiology\/2016\/11\/17\/thomas-huerta\/","title":{"rendered":"Honoring Our Veterans: Thomas Huerta"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Huerta<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Lead Quality Assurance Technologist, MRI
\n<\/b>Army 1983-1989<\/h5>\n

\"Thomas_Huerta_Vet_Pic_2\"<\/a>I started off in the infantry with the 82nd Airborne Division. Ironically, I\u2019m a little afraid of heights and thought that if I learned to jump out of airplanes, I would get rid of my fear. After more than fifty jumps out of airplanes, it didn\u2019t work. Even today, when I\u2019m up high, it\u2019s hard for me to look down. But I learned\u00a0a very important lesson: Don\u2019t let your fear dictate what you can and cannot\u00a0do.<\/p>\n

I traveled to Panama, Honduras, Ireland, Egypt, Israel, Germany, and the Caribbean. Egypt was my favorite place. On our time off we saw the pyramids, went to Cairo, and learned a lot about Arabic culture. I received a Parachutist Badge, a Combat Infantry Badge, and two Good Conduct medals, among several others.<\/p>\n

After four years in the infantry, I decided to go to X-ray school and become an X-ray technologist. I waited a year after school for a position in the hospital. In the meantime, I was still an infantry soldier. When I finally got into the hospital, I worked weekends and went to school during the week in order to obtain my bachelor\u2019s degree. One day in 1988, I saw my first MRI images. This technology had just been introduced\u00a0a few years before, and they didn\u2019t have MRI at Womack Army Hospital where I worked. A doctor brought in some MRI films and hung them up. I asked what they were, and he told me about this new technology called MRI. In my head I said to myself, \u201cI\u2019m going to do that one day.\u201d And I did.<\/p>\n

In 2003, I accepted a position as an MRI tech at UVA. I was living in Jacksonville, FL and wasn\u2019t learning much at my job. A friend told me about an open position at UVA, so I interviewed and ended up here. The different things you can do with MRI are amazing, and I enjoy that at UVA there\u2019s always something new to learn.<\/p>\n

\"Thomas_Huerta_Vet_Pic_1\"<\/a>My service in the military still affects me today. The infantry teaches you to adapt, adjust, and improvise. It\u2019s hard to say, \u201cI can\u2019t do this,\u201d because there are other ways of looking at the problem. Working with limited supplies or weapons on a mission teaches you to look at a problem in different ways and figure out a creative solution. I apply the same concept to Radiology and other aspects of my life. \u201cWhat do you mean it can\u2019t be done?\u201d I ask. \u201cThere\u2019s always a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
This article is part of the Department of Radiology\u2019s Veteran\u2019s Day series \u201cA Tribute to Our Veterans\u201d, honoring the men and women in our department who have served. To see the entire series, please click here<\/a>.<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Huerta Lead Quality Assurance Technologist, MRI Army 1983-1989 I started off in the infantry with the 82nd Airborne Division. Ironically, I\u2019m a little afraid of heights and thought that if I learned to jump out of airplanes, I would get rid of my fear. After more than fifty jumps out of airplanes, it didn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":3958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-veterans"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\nHonoring Our Veterans: Thomas Huerta - Radiology and Medical Imaging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/radiology\/2016\/11\/17\/thomas-huerta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honoring Our Veterans: Thomas Huerta - Radiology and Medical Imaging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thomas Huerta Lead Quality Assurance Technologist, MRI Army 1983-1989 I started off in the infantry with the 82nd Airborne Division. 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