UH Radiologist Relishes Role as Educator and Mentor
June 24, 2024
UH Clinical Update | June 2024
Hazel Young, MD grew up in Detroit, Michigan with seven sisters, and today all eight women are either educators or physicians -- thanks to the encouragement and example of their parents, who were both teachers.
Hazel Young, MDToday, Dr. Young’s role at UH is as a physician in radiology, but she incorporates education as well. She enjoys teaching and mentoring pre-med and medical students as well as radiology residents, and does so for hundreds of hours each year.
Dr. Young well remembers her own days as a student -- a diligent one. At her college-prep high school, she was science-oriented and focused on a chemistry/biology curriculum.
“Partly that was because science makes sense to me,” she says. “Also, other subjects were more subjective -- a teacher may or may not have liked you. But when you get a 99 on a physics exam, no one can say you didn’t.”
Dr. Young was a physics major at the University of Michigan, then got her medical doctorate from the Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine. She did her residency in Diagnostic Radiology at UH in 1983.
It was during her medical school rotations that she had decided to specialize in radiology. “The physicians in radiology seemed to be the happiest I met among all the rotations I did,” she says.
She has been the staff radiologist for the UH Cleveland Medical Center Department of Radiology since 1992.
Dr. Young was recently recognized at a Dinner with the Doc, for receiving the “Cliff Appreciates” award. She was nominated for the honor by Jessica Goldstein, MD, Chief Medical Officer at UH Ahuja Medical Center.
In her nomination of Dr. Young, Dr. Goldstein wrote, “She has kept her door open for learners and office staff alike so she can easily answer questions and be available for her team. She is known for her efficiency and clinical excellence.”
Dr. Goldstein added, “Multiple URIM (underrepresented in medicine) students have reached out to Dr. Young for advice, mentoring and education. At one of our Women in Radiology events, a medical student traveled from Dayton to attend and spend time with her. She is an inspirational role model who is generous with her time and knowledge.
“Hazel promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace and participates in activities to build relationships with diverse colleagues.”
Dr. Young is happy to do that -- for professional reasons, and because it suits her nature.
“As a radiologist I’m sort of an anomaly -- I am an extrovert,” she says. “I don’t like to just sit in the dark (looking at images).”
And, she notes, shadowing a physician is a requirement when applying to medical school, so she wants to provide that opportunity.
“It’s also a priority for Dr. Plecha,” adds Dr. Young, speaking of Department Chair Donna J. Plecha, MD, FSBI, Chair of the Department of Radiology, and the Ida and Irwin Haber and Wei-Shen Chin, MD, Chair in Radiology at UH.
All types of potential radiologists are in Dr. Young’s thoughts. She provides shadowing opportunities for radiology technology students, nurse practitioners, and area high school students, as well as college students, and graduate and medical students at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine.
In addition, she also has set up two scholarships for medical students -- one at Michigan State University and another at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn. Meharry is among this county’s historically black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs.
The latter school is especially significant to Dr. Young, as her great uncle William H. McCarty graduated in 1904 from Meharry Medical College, at a time when African-American physicians were exceedingly rare.
Today, there are two principles that constantly guide her, says Dr. Young: “If you see injustice, say something. If you see a cause of racial health disparities, do something.”
Congratulations to Dr. Young on her “Dinner with the Doc” honor.