Her Story
About Maria
Maria Flowers serves as a healthcare educator in Arlington, Texas, with more than 25 years in the field. She began her career as a nuclear medicine technologist and now focuses strictly on higher education, where a typical day involves classroom instruction or curriculum and programming meetings. Flowers earned her bachelor's degree at Tuskegee University and completed her doctorate at the University of Southern California while working full time and homeschooling her son. She emphasizes the values of initiative and humility in both her professional and personal life, advising students and colleagues to anticipate team and patient needs without waiting for direction. Flowers is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and Jack and Jill of America Incorporated. She has served on the boards of Mending Hearts and an AIDS group home and works extensively with organizations addressing health equity and maternal health. She highlights opportunities in healthcare education, including job stability, lucrative salaries, and rapid advancements in nuclear medicine for oncology therapy and early disease diagnosis, while noting challenges in balancing patient care with revenue-driven business priorities. Flowers shares career advice from her mother to be careful whom one steps on while rising, as those same individuals may be encountered on the way down, and encourages young women entering nuclear medicine or higher education to reach for higher goals without letting motherhood or life seasons deter them.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maria
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is something my mom told me: be careful who you step on on your way up because you may need to meet them on your way down.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Nuclear medicine is a really good field. When I first started there were more men than women, now there's a lot more women. In higher education too, reach for higher and don't think motherhood or certain seasons in life will stop you from reaching your goals. Life is a journey of hills and valleys, stick with it and ride the wave until you get to the destination.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Healthcare is one of the largest growing workforce sectors with job stability and lucrative salaries. Opportunities in nuclear medicine technology include rapid advancements in therapy for oncology and diagnosing diseases earlier. Challenges include balancing the caring aspect with the business aspect focused on revenue rather than patient care, and people entering the field for stability and income rather than passion for patient care, leading to issues with patient safety and quality.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Initiative and humility are the two things I always point out to my students. We need to always remember to be humble. When working in patient care, take the initiative to think about what team members and patients need and provide those things without waiting to be told. These traits are good in personal life too, extending grace and being there for others without them asking.
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