Veterinarian in white coat and blue gloves examining a horse's mouth in clinic — Jason Peters, RVT, RLAT, comforts a sedated horse while it undergoes a standing PET scan on one of its forelegs.

Imaging Creatures Great and Small

A Week in the Life of Jason Peters, RVT, RLAT

by Trina Wood (article and photos)
May 18, 2026

There aren’t many veterinary medicine professionals who see the usual companion animals—dogs, cats, and horses—and also get the chance to work with exotic species like tigers, chimpanzees and alligators.

But when you’ve spent more than 30 years as a specialized technician in veterinary imaging, like Jason Peters, RVT, RLAT, it’s just another week on the job.

Peters wasn’t sure about a career path after high school, so he followed an older brother’s footsteps into tech school. The RVT program he selected had its students spend the second year on rounds in the local veterinary hospital at Mississippi State University along with the veterinary students. He went on to obtain an undergraduate degree in Animal Science from Mississippi State while working in the veterinary hospital where he met his future wife. They moved to California after she was offered a DVM internship in the Sacramento area.

“I had always been aware of UC Davis and its strong reputation in veterinary medicine, so I pursued a technician job here,” said Peters, who is now supervisor of the Diagnostic Imaging Service and manages 14 staff members and eight residents.

After working a few years at Davis, I realized I was on the right path and had the support and opportunities to improve the program, develop technicians, train and teach—enough to keep me challenged and satisfied in a career.”

Peters also arrived at a time of rapid change and growth in imaging and had the opportunity to work with radiologists who were pioneers in the field of nuclear medicine. He overlapped with the professionals who literally wrote the books on nuclear medicine: Drs. Bill Hornof, ’75, Erik Wisner, ’83, ’91, Philip Koblik, ’81, ’84, Thomas Nyland, ’73, ’79 and John Neves, a large animal radiology supervisor (also a Davis police officer) who helped run large animal imaging at Davis for several decades.

“They served as incredible mentors to me. I hope to pay that forward and pass along what I’ve learned to the new team we have assembled now,” Peters said.

The job has come with some good stories over the years, he said. In the early days of his career, they were working with a chimp named JoJo who started coming out of anesthesia while being prepped for a CT.

“He started sitting up on the table even with a tracheotomy tube,” Peters recalled. “That was definitely a hairy moment!”

Advanced imaging isn’t just used for live patients. It can be an important tool during necropsies to help determine cause of death. Peters had the opportunity to work on Koko, the famous gorilla who used sign language, and more recently with Claude, the beloved albino alligator from the California Academy of Sciences.

“It’s an honor for me to help provide closure and be part of the process of finding the cause of death for these animals,” Peters said.

In addition to the variety of species that come through the imaging department as part of their workup, the technology keeps growing and changing.

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Spend the Week with Jason

Monday

Veterinary team in clinic performing an ultrasound on a brown dog; monitor displays abdominal scan — Monday mornings for Jason Peters starts with checking in with various teams throughout the hospital and troubleshooting any issues with various imaging equipment and computers. Then he heads over to the All Species Imaging Center(ASIC) where an 8-year-old horse undergoes an MRI to evaluate foraminal stenosis of the neck or a narrowing of the small opening between vertebrae where spinal nerves exit. UC Davis now offers equine foraminotomies thanks to the expertise of Dr. Carter Judy.

Four-panel photo collage: healthcare staff assisting patients with therapy and exams — On Monday afternoon, Peters assists the equine field team in moving a horse into the ASIC MRI room to investigate a possible fetlock issue in his right front leg. The job can get pretty physical and requires maneuvering animals into just the right place, sometimes in tight spaces! During theMRI, Peters points out areas of the horse’s leg that "light up" or show high signal intensity, indicating tissue changes typically associated with active injury, inflammation or infection. This technique is highly sensitive to identifying soft tissue injuries that are otherwise invisible onX-rays or ultrasound.

Tuesday

Photo collage of medical staff consulting and treating patients in hospital — On Tuesday morning, Peters starts compounding a radioactive isotope used in nuclear medicine fora warmblood horse. “Depending on the type of scan performed, we must bind the radioisotope toa specific agent to look for a disease process,” he says. The patient is being evaluated for equinecomplex vertebral malformation, a condition that can cause vertebral instability and chronic pain.Nuclear medicine is used to image physiological processes such as bone remodeling, blood flow orthyroid activity that isn’t visible with structural imaging like radiography. From left, Maaika Clapham,Kirsten Kanarr, and Geena Urton are a few of the imaging staff team members that Peters relies onto keep procedures running smoothly and efficiently.

Wednesday

Veterinary staff examining a brown pony indoors with medical equipment and assistant — On Wednesday afternoon, the team conducts a standing equine PET (Positron EmissionTomography) scan on a horse’s front legs. UC Davis pioneered this diagnostic imaging technique that allows for imaging of a horse’s limbs while under sedation, avoiding the risks of general anesthesia. The standing PET scanner can identify metabolic and bone injuries at the molecular level, allowing veterinarians to detect bone and soft tissue injuries before they are visible onX-rays or even MRI. Diagnosing these issues early for treatment and careful monitoring can reduce catastrophic injuries. The padded block allows the horse to rest its chin and relax during the imaging process.

Thursday

Hospital scenes: clinicians consulting, patient in MRI, staff at lab and workstation — On Thursday morning, Peters holds a cat in place for a Thyroid Nuclear Scintigraphy to look at a thyroid tumor, while veterinary technician supervisor Kirsten Kanarr assists. The procedure is a learning opportunity for Chase Garcia, a DVM/Ph.D.student in the Class of 2026 during his internal medicine rotation. Later that morning, Peters returns to the ASIC where a St. Bernard undergoes an MRI. He monitors the radioactive dosage in the patient to ensure the best imaging results. Back in the MRI control room, Peters returns to juggling the phone calls and requests that keep him busy throughout the day.

Peters has enjoyed the challenges that brings and the responsibility to stay on the cutting edge of diagnostic imaging.

With the new All Species Imaging Center (ASIC) up and running, that’s easier to do with the machines at hand,” he said. “The Qalibra CT system has opened a Pandora’s box of what we are capable of.”

Before the ASIC facility, there were some big hurdles when it came to working with large animals such as horses. Performing advanced imaging like a CT required a large team of veterinarians and technicians as well as a forklift and crane to position the patient. They needed a table capable of handling thousands of pounds but due to the room configuration and space constraints, they couldn’t buy a new one that fit. So, Peters built one.

Peters collaborated with Finishline Advanced Composites, a carbon fiber manufacturer that specializes in automotive parts, and the UC Davis College of Engineering to design a table that weighs only 100 pounds but can handle up to 10,000 pounds in any given area. NASA uses the same material because of its strength-to-weight ratio, high stiffness, chemical resistance, and temperature tolerance. That innovative project was completed nearly a decade ago and helped open further doors for Peters.

“Taking initiative to create something we needed to do our jobs better and provide excellent patient care helped establish greater trust with faculty members and the administration,” said Peters. “They recognized I was project-oriented and I make sure the job gets done, no matter what.”

That can-do approach led to Peters being intimately involved in the planning and building of the new ASIC, which was designed to handle patients of all sizes.

We always knew what we could do and now it’s become a reality.”
Jason Peters on the All Species Imaging Center

“We always knew what we could do and now it’s become a reality,” Peters said. “When you’re in that building and the staff are clicking and everything is moving and you’re literally taking a horse from one room to another with ease … we don’t need extra equipment, we don’t need extra people; we can image what we want, flawlessly. That was the whole purpose of building this facility for our patients and it’s rewarding to see it happening.”

Now that the ASIC is up and running, Peters said meeting the imaging demands of so many specialty departments, between small animal and large animal clinics, has become one of his biggest daily challenges. Different departments request different procedures, and some are more time sensitive than others.

“My mornings are dictated by how many dings I get on my phone on the commute into work!”

In recognition for his pivotal role in bringing the ASIC to fruition, Peters was awarded the 2025 Staff Member of the Year Award from Dean Mark Stetter.

His nominators cited how he took on coordinating equipment installation, staff training, workflow development, and the full transition of multiple modalities into the new facility.

“His dedication to quality, safety, and efficiency is evident in every aspect of the service, from daily operations to clinical education and research support,” said Clinical Operations Administrator Harmony Lindberg. “Jason supported his team through this critical expansion and hired more team members, all while ensuring that the hospital’s diagnostic imaging service never stopped providing services to the entire patient population.”

Learn more about the All Species Imaging Center.