Jim Gray MD is a doctor and entrepreneur who operates his own imaging center in Mississippi. He is a member of the American Board of Radiology and has been certified for over a decade. In order to become a doctor, he attended Mississippi State University where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in both arts and science. He then left the state to pursue his medical degree in Ohio, but he returned afterward to fulfill his residency plan. Ultimately, he left again to do a fellowship program in Cincinnati. Although Jim Gray MD moved quite a few times while he was going through his academic career, he always came back to Mississippi. Hence why his medical and entrepreneurial careers are now taking place there.
Why did you choose to pursue a career in the field in which you currently work?
When I first started my college career, I thought that I would like to do something in the field of arts. After all, there are countless directions in which your life can go from there. In my case, however, the perspective shifted a little. Although I still think that pursuing a degree in arts can be incredibly beneficial, I decided to finish my academic plan and go after something else. So, I switched to the field of science and doing so has been one of the smartest decisions that I have made. Four years later, I had my bachelor’s degree in science. Of course, I wanted to go further and get a degree in medicine. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that I believed my talents could be utilized to help people.
In what way does your professional role make it possible for you to have a positive impact on others?
Well, I work directly with individuals who may have an undiagnosed condition that needs to be confirmed in order to start treatment. This means that I can quite literally save someone’s life with my skillset. Nevertheless, I do this job in order to help people in every way possible, not just when it comes to potential life-or-death cases. Additionally, I do my best to provide personable patient care and help people learn more about radiology in general. This is achieved by using simple radiology reports that everyone can understand so that patients know exactly what they are looking at.
Can you give our readers any advice about starting their own business?
You should start a business where you will use your skills to solve a problem. The reason why is that problem-based entrepreneurial ventures are much easier to begin as the demand for them already exists. Moreover, you are much more likely to find a niche that can be a long-term endeavor and provide you with hefty returns for the rest of your career. Ultimately, never start a business in a sector that you are unfamiliar with just because you are seeing high revenues there. Odds are, lack of personal interest can translate to poor operations that will cost you a lot of money.
What do you do for recreation?
I try to do some physical exercise at least 3-4 times a week. Since I do not really leave my office for work, I often need to do something to provide my body with enough cardio exercise. Thus, I like playing sports or doing resistance training. Besides working out, I also enjoy spending time with family and friends. We often get together for a movie or some sporting event. These tend to be great times where we all catch up with one another. After all, most of us are very busy and do not get to interact as much as we would like. Lastly, I love spending time researching something related to radiology or medicine in general. Although this is not exactly recreational, it helps me rest by keeping my brain engaged.
Is there an Australian you admire or who has had a profound influence on you personally or professionally? Explain.
The first one would have to be Steve Irwin. For those unfamiliar, he spent his life working to preserve nature and animals. Unfortunately, he died in 2006 when a stingray stabbed him through the heart while filming one of his shows. He was also one of the first TV personalities to have multiple shows and he helped pave the way for a lot of animal advocacy groups that are now popular. Ironically, he was nicknamed the “Crocodile Hunter” even though his mindset had nothing to do with hunting.
Besides him, I am also a huge fan of Germaine Greer. She is a prominent writer who has helped the movement of feminism mature and become what it is today. Reading her work has definitely helped me gain a wider perspective on how the world operates.
