George Glover, RDMS, Spotlight
October 26, 2023
Meet Sonographer George Glover, RDMS
Towering above Golden Gate Park, behind floor-to-ceiling glass showing off sweeping city views, you’ll find Sonographer George Glover, RDMS, in the Radiology department at 400 Parnassus Ave. George is a skilled sonographer and has been referred to as “the bedrock of our department” by Ultrasound Supervisor Lisa Liu, RDMS, RVT. He’s adept at handling intricate and challenging musculoskeletal ultrasounds from head to toe. His deep anatomical expertise enables him to excel in this field, keeping a laser focus on joints, nerves, and organs, while working with both hands – one on the patient via the ultrasound’s transducer, and the other on the machine – to get the right pictures, understand the pathology to properly diagnose the patient, and share the findings with the radiologist.
“I love that about my job. I don’t just take pictures and hand them off. I’m involved in the process and there is a lot of communication back and forth with the radiologists,” said George, who arrives at 7 a.m. on a typical morning and starts his day with a yoga routine before diving into a shared rotation with up to 12 patients scheduled a day. “Every image is gone over individually with a radiologist, and I’m involved in that process of coming to a conclusion and sharing my findings. It’s the best in terms of care for the patient.”
But what George loves even more about his job is teaching. He has a dual role as both a sonographer and instructor, which is “a testament to his exceptional commitment and dedication to the field of medical sonography” according to Lisa.
As an instructor of ultrasound technologists, George provides hands-on training to students from Foothill College, Gurnick Academy, and Kaiser’s radiology residency programs, teaching interns the best methods and hand movements to obtain images by manipulating the transducer and handling the complex ultrasound machine. He also helps interns think about what they are seeing, understand the patient’s problem, and think through what’s next in terms of patient care. Interns eventually transition from watching George to conducting their own exams, while George monitors the ultrasounds live on-screen and provides a second set of eyes to review the findings.
To date, he's trained more than 25 students to be job-ready sonographers, 12 of whom now work at UCSF. When it comes to his students, George is most proud of their ability to properly diagnose patients, communicate their thoughts and ideas with the attending radiologist, and be able to make reasonable conclusions based on what they are seeing.
Former student Laura Withelder, who is now George’s colleague in the Radiology department, said, “I learned more here with George in the span of three months than I did at any other site rotation for over a year.”
Sonographer Lecture Series
What started as George’s case-study style lecture to his team – to bring up their comfort level and base of anatomical knowledge in a certain area of the body – turned into a UCSF lecture series, which is available to paid subscribers at other hospitals and in private practice worldwide.
George develops and presents lectures from a sonographer’s point of view. His first lecture focused on the liver’s hepatic artery and vascular anatomy to help sonographers understand imaging of the liver, which is critical to surgeons pre- and post-surgery. George’s lecture was based on methods learned from one of his mentors and longtime department faculty member Roy Filly, MD.
In June 2023, George presented his most recent lecture on the pancreas transplant ultrasound – one of the most complicated scans. His goal was to build a base of knowledge to help his colleagues and students feel more comfortable with the procedure. In all his lectures, he uses his love of anatomy as a basis for teaching sonographers how to understand where they are and what they are seeing. He guides sonographers to understand anatomy on a deeper level to be able to decipher what’s on the image, whether it is it fluid, solid, or bone.
“One of George's most remarkable qualities is his patience and eagerness to guide and teach our new staff, particularly when they encounter new or challenging exams. His willingness to share his extensive knowledge and experience has had a transformative effect on the growth and development of our team,” said Lisa. “George's mentorship has instilled confidence in our newer staff and empowered them to provide high-quality patient care.”
George began his UCSF career as a student in 2003, hired in cardiology as a cardiac sonographer in 2004 and in general radiology in 2005, where he split his time between both departments. In 2008, he joined Radiology full-time. In addition to Dr. Filly, he credits several mentors for inspiring his career, including Ruth Goldstein, MD, Dan Sampior, RDMS, and Jane Glover, RDMS, who is also George’s wife and a sonographer at the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights.
Together, George and his wife Jane have four kids, ages 16, 14, 12, and 10, and they live across the Golden Gate in San Rafael. When he’s not at work, he’s outdoors with his family – hiking Marin’s majestic mountain trails (check out Jane’s family-friendly hiking blog) or snowboarding down Tahoe’s snow-covered slopes. He even puts his teaching talents into play with his kids and has coached several of their sports, from volleyball currently, to the mountain bike team, baseball, and softball in the past. These days you can also catch him hanging out at the skate park with his youngest son.
“Despite his extensive knowledge and expertise, George remains humble. He fosters a collaborative and inclusive atmosphere within our department. He is always willing to teach or help back scan. His contributions have left an indelible mark on our team dynamic,” added Lisa, as she praised George for his role in shaping the future of the Radiology department.