CREDIT: JORDAN CROW
Elizabeth Lorusso is currently the MRI program co-ordinator at Fanshawe College. She recently won the Health Sciences Award from the College.

Elizabeth Lorusso was the recipient of the Health Sciences Award at the Fanshawe Alumni Distinguished Alumni Awards' Hall of Fame dinner on Feb. 8. Currently, Lorusso is the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) program co-ordinator at the College.

Lorusso's research pertains to reducing radiation levels during x-ray exams. In 2015, Lorusso and her team collaborated with Western University to conduct research on this subject. According to a press release from corporate communications in 2016, the study concluded that modern-day advanced digital imaging technology can utilize 50 to 70 per cent less radiation than film-based x-ray images. In addition, this decrease in radiation does not hinder diagnostic results.

“The fact that I work for Fanshawe helped our study become really robust because Fanshawe has such a good relationship with its community partners. We had almost a 50 per cent response rate to our survey,” Lorusso said. “A lot of people contribute to Fanshawe and Fanshawe contributes to the community. I think a lot of that good will really helped with our publication.”

Before Lorusso and her team's publication, previous studies were conducted on the topic; however, these studies had a small number of participants, making the data less reliable.

Lorusso said she has always wanted to help people and found x-ray technologies interesting while growing up. As a result, she chose to take Fanshawe's radiography program. She graduated from the program in 1981. Lorusso said that graduating from the radiography program at Fanshawe allowed her to grow her career and study other areas and aspects of the health sciences field.

“Our mandate as an x-ray technologist, or anybody who deals with radiation, is to adhere to a principle called the ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable). A long time ago, that was just a concept, but today, the computer can tell us how much radiation a patient has absorbed. It's not just a principle, it's quantifiable now,” Lorusso said.

When discussing Lorusso's achievement at the Alumni Awards, she stated that the whole process is still sinking in for her and that it is a privilege to work at Fanshawe and to teach the next generation of students interested in a career in the health sciences field.

Lorusso has also received a variety of awards in the past few years for her research. According to the Fanshawe College website, in 2017 she received the annual Practitioner of the Year Award from the Ontario Association of Medical Radiation Technologists. In addition, she received the 2016 London Health Sciences Centre Scholarly Award.

She also had the chance to travel to Seoul, South Korea, to give a presentation at the 2016 International Society of Radiographers and Radiological Technologists World Congress gathering.

“I'm so excited that technology has taken us this far and [I'm] excited to see where it takes us next,” Lorusso said.