Nuclear Medicine Technology

Program Overview

Nuclear medicine is a commonly used medical specialty employed in hospitals to help doctors diagnose and treat various diseases. A safe and benign radioactive material called a radiopharmaceutical is injected into a patient, travels through the bloodstream and collects in a specific organ. Then an image of the organ, made visible by the presence of the radiopharmaceutical, is obtained on an instrument called a gamma camera. This includes the newest type of imaging technology know as PET imaging. 

A nuclear medicine technologist is responsible for the performance of organ imaging procedures for the obtaining of diagnostic results. Their duties include:

• preparing the radiopharmaceutical and performing quality control tests on them;
• giving the injection (if it is allowed by law in the state in which the technologist is working);
• observing radiation safety and protection procedures;
• performing quality-control tests on the imaging instrumentation and computers;
• preparing the patient and imaging instrumentation for the specific imaging procedure;
• positioning the patient during the procedure; 
• computer processing the acquired data to enhance image quality and quantitate the information; 
• presenting the results to the doctor for diagnosis.

The technologist also becomes involved with non-imaging and therapeutic procedures in nuclear medicine.

Hospital and Medical Center Affiliations 

The Nuclear Medicine Technology program at Manhattan College is affiliated with eight hospitals and medical centers in the New York City metropolitan area. These are among the best and most cutting edge hospitals and medical centers in the country. 

• Danbury Hospital
• Lenox Hill Hospital
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Mount Sinai Medical Center
• New York Presbyterian-Columbia Medical Center
• New York Presbyterian-Cornell Medical Center
• New York University Langone Medical Center
• Westchester Medical Center

All students enrolled in the program take 10 credits of clinical internship courses, amounting to about 185 days in a nuclear medicine department at one of these hospitals. It is during the internship courses that the student receives hands-on experience and achieves competency as a nuclear medicine technologist.

Bachelor of Science Degree

The bachelor of science degree includes a 21-credit health care administration concentration. This concentration has been designed to expand the role and provide a career ladder for nuclear medicine technologists into radiological department administration, sales or technical representation in the nuclear medicine industry. The bachelor of science degree also supplies graduates with the potential to enter graduate programs in hospital administration, public administration or business administration. 

See the degree requirements.

Certificate Program

The certificate program is for students who already have a bachelor's degree and are looking to transition into the field of nuclear medicine technology. Students must have completed the prerequisite courses as outlined in the certificate program requirements page. The certificate program takes approximately 21 months to complete. A full-time internship is required during the summer session. Tuition for the full certificate program is approximately $31,590. 

See the certificate requirements.