Autobiography of YOU - DFCI Communications Department
in alphabetic order -
From:
Caren Cummings Adams
Director of Interactive Communications,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
A long and winding road
After I graduated from college with a degree in Psychology and Photography I tried to get a job. In interview after interview I was asked; “Can you answer a 12 line phone?” I quickly realized that college did not exactly prepare me for a paying job.
My mother said; “You need a sellable skill.” And she was right. Having had some exposure to working in an orthopedists office over the summers, I chose to go to X-Ray school.
I went back to school, graduated from Northeastern and got a job where I trained during school. I started working at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Radiology.
It was clear that doing barium enemas was not where I wanted to land, but a new technology was emerging that I found fascinating – CAT scanning.
Moving on from the barium pit, I landed a primo CAT scan job. It was the 1st scanner in
Boston and only did head scans. I loved the mix of medicine and 3d technology.
For the next 20 years I managed CT departments. I landed at Beth Israel Deaconess and loved it. It was extremely busy and we had 30 full and part time technologists working in my area. After a number of years I was ready for a change. I needed a new adventure. Just as that feeling started to percolate the chairman of my department made a proposal to me. “I want you to build the 1st radiology website.” I replied, “The only things I know about websites are that they start with WWW.” But he gave me the encouragement and resources to do it. On top of running the CT Department I took the challenge and loved it.
We built the radiology website even before the hospital had a site. This was my new frontier and a way to get me out of the rut I’d gotten into in CT scan.
I was hired by the hospital to do their site, and then created 7 more sites for our partners. After a few years I was offered an opportunity to move to Dana-Farber to build a web presence for them.
It’s been a wonderful opportunity to build not only the Interactive team but to create a large web presence for Dana-Farber, Dana-Farber Brigham and Women’s, Dana-Farber Boston Childrens, the Jimmy fund, and many other sites. We have also expanded into social media and a created a wonderful intranet.
As the online world has grown, I’ve been lucky to have chosen that path and grown with it. Sometimes you start in one direction and then go down a different road. I’m glad I did.
Caren
Caren Cummings Adams
Director of Interactive Communications,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
A long and winding road
After I graduated from college with a degree in Psychology and Photography I tried to get a job. In interview after interview I was asked; “Can you answer a 12 line phone?” I quickly realized that college did not exactly prepare me for a paying job.
My mother said; “You need a sellable skill.” And she was right. Having had some exposure to working in an orthopedists office over the summers, I chose to go to X-Ray school.
I went back to school, graduated from Northeastern and got a job where I trained during school. I started working at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Radiology.
It was clear that doing barium enemas was not where I wanted to land, but a new technology was emerging that I found fascinating – CAT scanning.
Moving on from the barium pit, I landed a primo CAT scan job. It was the 1st scanner in
Boston and only did head scans. I loved the mix of medicine and 3d technology.
For the next 20 years I managed CT departments. I landed at Beth Israel Deaconess and loved it. It was extremely busy and we had 30 full and part time technologists working in my area. After a number of years I was ready for a change. I needed a new adventure. Just as that feeling started to percolate the chairman of my department made a proposal to me. “I want you to build the 1st radiology website.” I replied, “The only things I know about websites are that they start with WWW.” But he gave me the encouragement and resources to do it. On top of running the CT Department I took the challenge and loved it.
We built the radiology website even before the hospital had a site. This was my new frontier and a way to get me out of the rut I’d gotten into in CT scan.
I was hired by the hospital to do their site, and then created 7 more sites for our partners. After a few years I was offered an opportunity to move to Dana-Farber to build a web presence for them.
It’s been a wonderful opportunity to build not only the Interactive team but to create a large web presence for Dana-Farber, Dana-Farber Brigham and Women’s, Dana-Farber Boston Childrens, the Jimmy fund, and many other sites. We have also expanded into social media and a created a wonderful intranet.
As the online world has grown, I’ve been lucky to have chosen that path and grown with it. Sometimes you start in one direction and then go down a different road. I’m glad I did.
Caren