Feb. 15—ALBANY — Albany Technical College is trying to fill the growing number of job vacancies throughout the health care industry by hosting events to get students interested in the industry. In an effort to attract more men to the health care field, Albany Tech will host a panel discussion called "Are You Man Enough to be in Healthcare?" on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Kirkland Conference Center.

Professional representatives from various health care fields will be present to answer questions and discuss some of the challenges they have experienced and overcame on their journey into the field. These representatives include Dr. Lorenzo Carson, a radiologist at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital; Clifton Bush, the chief operating officer of Albany Area Primary Healthcare Inc.; Martavius Marcus, director of operations for Phoebe Physician Group; and Gregory Ewing, a certified pharmacy technician with Phoebe Health Systems.

The event is sponsored by the Student Wellness: Mental, Academic & Physical Preparedness PBI Grant under the direction of Lashea Dancer, project director, and Lisa Stephens, dean of Healthcare & Business Technology at ATC.

Stephens is all too familiar with the growing need for more men to join the health care field.

"Men, traditionally, are underrepresented in health care professions," she said. "This trend is prevalent in health care education programs as well. Our goal for this event is to allow participants an opportunity to hear from men that are in the profession and engage in dialogue about what they do on a daily basis."

For more information about this event, contact Dancer, who is Albany Tech's director of student wellness, at (229) 430-3614 or ldancer@albanytech.edu.