TSC'S GROUNDBREAKING RADIOLOGIC INNOVATOR RETIRES

By Juan Montoya

When Manuel Gavito first became a radiologic technologist in 1966, 55 years ago, and then employed at Texas Southmost ze cr College the last 46, he was one of a select few.

Then, in 1975, he was instrumental in starting the Radiologic Technology Program at TSC which became the first college-based radiologic technology program in the Rio Grande Valley, and for many years the only such program in the RGV.

Then, and sometimes even today, it was not uncommon for people to conceive of a radiologist sitting in a dark room reading “films.”

But radiology has evolved over the years and Gavito has been the point man for the technological advances of the science at TSC and his instruction has helped hundreds of former students branch out in the field of patient care and medicine through his efforts. 

The "films"  disappeared in the 1980s. In their place have been advances such as computer digitation, as well as all forms of diagnostic imaging, now at the core of medicine. 

On Thursday, at 5:30 p.m., the trustees of TSC and its administration passed a resolution honoring the community college's one and only program director since its inception upon his retirement. 

His record speaks for itself. Unlike some programs (nursing, for example), which had its share of problems (since resolved), Gavito's classes have set the gold standard of instruction and performance.

Students in his classes have achieved a sterling performance record and consistently scored a 100 percent pass rate in their state licensure exams, creating a consistent pipeline of highly-qualified health-care professionals for the Rio Grande Valley.

But he says nothing has been more gratifying to him than to see about 600 of his students graduate with an associate degree and go on to successful and prosperous careers in the healthcare industry.

“We’ve had a lot of students go on to do well, and that’s a reward. For a two-year program, some of my students are making $80,000 a year,” Gavito said.

“Some graduates have used this degree as a stepping stone to do other things. I’ve had students that have moved on to be radiologists. The majority stay in the field, so no matter where I go in the Valley, chances are that the person who is taking the x-rays was a student of mine.”

During the 46 years he has been employed by TSC/UTB he has worked with 5 different presidents and 12 different deans. Most of his graduates work in area medical centers doing x-ray, CT, and MRI exams. Thanks to Gavito's innovations at TSC, whichever hospital you go to in the valley the radiographer performing the imaging exam most likely graduated from his program. 

(In the photo with trustee Adela Garza, she leaned over and told him he had been the captain of a big ship which he had kept afloat and weathered the hurricane of the UTB-TSC split and managed to remain focused to bring it to port and influence lives for the better.)

However, other graduates have used this program training as a steppingstone to go on to other things. He has had graduates go on to become medical doctors, dentists, hospital CEOs (like Valley Regional Hospital's Art Garza) and Radiologic Technology College Program directors at other state institutions. Even current Brownsville Independent School District Superintendent Dr. Rene Gutierrez is a former student of his program.

Gutierrez said: "Thank you Mr. Gavito for your service to the Radiology Program at TSC. As a former student of yours, I appreciate the two years that you taught me to be an X-ray technician and inspired me to continue pursuing other opportunities in higher education. You have been instrumental in preparing students to be the best health-care workers in radiology throughout the Rio Grande Valley."

Wilhelm Roentgen invented what became known as X-rays November 8, 1895. Since then computerization and other advancements have revolutionized the specialty. And it has changed dramatically in the 25 years that he has been the program's director. And TSC – through Gavito's leadership– has kept abreast of the changes. 

It has clearly revolutionized patient care to the extent that many refer to the CT scanner as “truth.” CT, or computerized tomography, invented in 1971 by Godfrey Hounsfield, who won the Nobel Prize in 1979. It is now used to evaluate trauma patients, assess patients with acute and chronic complaints, and diagnose and then monitor cancer during treatment.

In the resolution, the trustees state that Gavito's students had access to state-of-the-art technology by converting manual X-ray labs into fully digital labs and obtaining energized labs so students could acquire hands-on experience with the latest advances in X-ray and imaging technology. Today, hardly any diagnosis is made without imaging.