Issue: Spring 2016 | Posted: April 25, 2016
Brian Taylor
Outstanding Young Alumnus
Presented to up to three Union University graduates who are age 40 or younger with a record of significant accomplishment in professional life and service to Union University or the world.
Brian Taylor works as a medical physicist, specializing in clinical radiology and brain imaging research, and he says he would not be able to do that work without the education he received at Union.
“The foundational training I received at Union was instrumental in knowing the mathematical and physical principles to be able to apply them to the medical field,” Taylor says.
Taylor graduated from Union in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and physics. He says his professors played a big part in making his time at Union a positive and worthwhile experience.
“I fondly remember spending several hours in the offices of many mathematics and physics professors when I needed assistance in challenging assignments,” he says. “They were always so patient and kind in assisting students in understanding the concepts outside of the normal class times.”
After his time at Union, Taylor received his doctorate in medical physics from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. He then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2012.
Taylor works at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, as an assistant professor of radiology and physical medicine and rehabilitation. He says his primary work is with a multi-disciplinary group of researchers using medical imaging to study the effects of traumatic brain injuries and other neurological conditions, particularly in active military service members, veterans and athletes.
“One very rewarding part of my job is seeing how our work is applied to help patients who need special diagnostic or therapeutic medical procedures,” Taylor says. “As medical physicists, the calculations we make are used to make these procedures safe and efficient.”
Taylor has worked on many other projects, including pieces in 11 peer-reviewed publications. He serves as an imaging physicist in the radiology clinic at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center. He is an active member of Houston’s First Baptist Church, where he volunteers for a ministry for children with special needs.
Taylor says his undergraduate education prepared him to pursue various paths both professionally and personally and gave him the skills he needed to excel.
“Given the well-rounded liberal arts education at Union, I was prepared through classes such as biology, chemistry, written composition and communication to prepare me in many aspects in my life, not just mathematics and physics.” Taylor says.
He has received many awards and recognitions, including receiving an Elizabeth Tigrett Medal from Union, being recognized as a Sowell-Huggins Scholar in Cancer Research and receiving the Aaron Blanchard Research Award in Medical Physics.
“I’m thankful to the Lord for Union,” Taylor says. “And for the calling in which he has called me to serve.”