"Everything is going to be new. But my wife and I like rural small communities," said radiologist Dr. Glenn Moradian.
Moradian started his new position on Wednesday and is joined in Williston by his wife, Merri, who is a registered dental hygienist. The couple is coming from Idaho Falls, Idaho.
"We came here because I was looking for a solo hospital-based practice and this seemed to be the best opportunity in the area," he said.
Moradian was raised in the San Joaquin Valley of California and attended California State University at Fresno. He then spent eight years in Chapel Hill, N.C., where he attended graduate studies in human anatomy, followed by medical school. He attended the University of New Mexico's residency training program in diagnostic radiology and became board certified in 1987. Moradian spent two years at the University of Minnesota completing a fellowship in cardiovascular and interventional radiology. After 10 years of private practice, he returned to Minneapolis in 1999 to complete a one-year neuroradiology fellowship.
"I like the intellectual challenge of it," Moradian said of the imaging field. "We have to stay up on various aspects of imaging, which is changing rapidly, and I like the interaction with my fellow physicians."
He also thoroughly enjoys contact with patients, although his practice is more diagnostic than clinical. The rapidly changing field of imaging is the result of always changing technology.
"Basically, imaging is electronics," Moradian stated. "And electronics, as we all know, has advanced tremendously."
As electronics have evolved, imaging has also come a long way to be more accurate and convenient for patients, he said.
"It's always interesting finding new ways of looking at the human body," he added.
Moradian expects his new position to be similar to what he has done in the past.
"It's a small hospital, so your relationships to referring physicians are more intimate and that's good," he said.
Moradian plans to reach out to physicians in surrounding communities to offer same-day service. This will allow physicians to see a patient and receive an imaging result the same day. This effort includes networking and building relationships with doctors in the surrounding communities.
He also plans to add pain management to what was done before and said the CT scanner will be used to guide injections.
"This is kind of novel for the area; it's more accurate," he said.
This program supplements conservative therapy to deal with people who have back or joint pain.
"What we do is we inject pain medication and a steroid solution around the nerves of the spine or joint to try to reduce the inflammation, improve mobility and keep them on the job," he said.
When physicians see patients who can benefit from steroid injection either in a joint or back, they will refer the patient to Moradian.
"We're going to be upgrading the current CT scanner to allow us to do CT guided procedures much more quickly," he said.
Mercy Medical Center Marketing and Communications manager Leslie Sullivan said Mercy had an interim radiologist for a few months prior to Moradian's arrival. She said he is a wonderful addition to Mercy's staff and to the region it serves.
"We are very pleased to have Dr. Moradian join the Mercy family," Sullivan said.
Comments