Administrative Director for NYU Radiology
Making It All Work and Making It Look Easy
Michael Harbeson, Warren Conners, Lisa Lebid, Danvet Morris, Aden Previlon, Elba Cardona.
Propelling the professional development of his staff, in fact, is the aspect of his job from which Mr. Harbeson derives the most pride of accomplishment, and he most enjoys his ability to aid in the process. He is a natural mentor, but considers his unique talent the ability to see potential in members of his staff that they themselves may not recognize, and to guide them to attaining a new level of achievement. The personal accomplishment of which Mr. Harbson is most proud is earning his B.S. in Health Services Policy and Planning in 1998 while studying at NYU in the evenings and working full time at NYU Medical Center during the day.
The Road to NYU
The Michael Harbeson of today must be understood as an adult child of the 1960’s. His earliest years were spent in an “iffy” neighborhood in Queens. As he was entering his teenage years, his father, a warehouse worker for a now defunct supermarket chain, decided to uproot the family and move them from an environment “ripe with temptations for his teenage sons” and transplant them to a farm in upstate New York. While initially “horrified,” Mike and his younger brother decided to make the best of it and came to appreciate all that rural upstate life had to offer—including Woodstock. Mike remembers returning from Woodstock a changed person and he feels that his teenage years and the attitudes he developed formed him as the person that he is today. “I learned respect for life and property and my eyes were opened.”
After high school, Mr. Harbeson started college on a Regents science scholarship. There he encountered a lab partner who worked as an X-ray technologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. His curiosity piqued by his friend’s stories, he accompanied his friend to work one Saturday. For Mr. Harbeson, that day became a defining moment. He sat in the control room of the Interventional Radiology Suite watching an emergency procedure, entranced by what he saw. The radiologist and technologist were intense and displayed a supreme level of competence. They worked in synch with each other and communicated mostly with nods. There were flashing lights, the racket of the film changer in the background, and blood vessels miraculously appearing superimposed on the image of a “skeleton” on the monitor. From that moment he was hooked and knew what he wanted to do with his life and career.
The many ensuing phases have allowed Mr. Harbeson to analyze the Department of Radiology at NYU from an intimate vantage point few have shared. He has played an increasingly critical role in the enactment of the most significant and ambitious transition this department has known. When asked if he envisioned himself in this position when he began as an X-ray technologist, the answer is a quick affirmative. “I always saw myself in this role, from the day I started. I always wanted to determine my own fate. I prefer to lead rather than follow.” The entire department is grateful for his leadership.
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