Dec. 3, 2025
Story by Cheri Ghan, ghanc@health.missouri.edu
From music to medicine, Dr. Douglas Clem’s career has been defined by precision, collaboration and a commitment to excellence. When he retires after 23 years with the College of Health Sciences Diagnostic Medical Ultrasound (DMU) program, Dr. Clem’s time as a clinical coordinator and clinical professor saw him make a profound impact on Missouri’s sonographer workforce.
After graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in trombone performance, he began his professional life as a high school band teacher. He was incredibly successful in that venture (even leading his students in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl parade), but Dr. Clem felt like it was time for a career change when he was 29.
While researching potential options at his local library, he was drawn to health care. He shadowed multiple programs after a move to follow his brother to Florida, and it was in the Sunshine State that he discovered diagnostic medical ultrasound — a field that combined his love of sound with his detail-oriented mind.
From cardiac care to classroom leadership
After earning his degree, Dr. Clem received offers from two prestigious research medical institutions: Duke and Emory University Hospital and Clinic. His choice to move to Atlanta was a matter of dollars and cents.
“They offered me $1 an hour more than Duke,” he laughed. “Through the years, I worked in various hospitals and clinics as a lab manager, pediatric sonographer, vascular sonographer, and travel tech, picking up lots of new skills and experiences along the way.”
His work as a travel sonographer eventually brought him to Rolla, Missouri. When he heard about a teaching opportunity with Mizzou’s DMU program, the teacher voice inside of him called out and encouraged him to apply.
After hearing nothing for several weeks, Dr. Clem was preparing to accept a new role in California when Dr. Moses Hdeib, the former DMU program director, called to invite him to interview for the position. He was offered the job on a three-year contract. Based on overwhelmingly positive reactions from colleagues and students, Dr. Clem was hired to a longer contract and eventually promoted to assistant professor and clinical coordinator.
Over time, he helped expand clinical training opportunities. As clinical sites realized how well-prepared Mizzou DMU students were, Dr. Clem was part of a team of clinical coordinators who grew the program’s network of sites from 12 to more than 50 across Missouri, Iowa and Illinois.
“It was mostly a sales job back then to convince health facilities to trust us,” Dr. Clem said. “We accepted some very good students into the program who were smart and talented. They knew that they were a part of something special.”
Dr. Clem has worked in the program for all but three years of its existence. Instead of being forced to choose a cardiac/vascular track or general/vascular track, College of Health Sciences students learn it all: general, OB/GYN, vascular and cardiac specialties.
“It takes about 10 years for a new program to mature, and it was around the 10-year mark when we felt stability and confidence in what we were trying to do as a program,” he said. “From the beginning, the program’s philosophy was centered around understanding the body’s anatomy and physiology through sonographic imaging holistically. That philosophy has not changed, and it separates us from what everyone else does.”
Advancing research and mentoring future leaders
While teaching, Dr. Clem earned another master’s degree and a PhD. His dissertation on spatial relations in ultrasound scanning was published in the Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine and presented at the Association of Ultrasound in Medicine convention in 2012.
His research, writing and publication success have helped him mentor Mizzou undergraduate and graduate students to be successful in their own endeavors.
“I am most proud of the success of my students in publishing their scholarly work,” he said.
Under Dr. Clem’s mentorship, Mizzou students won first or second place in the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography’s national Scientific Presentations Competition seven years in a row.
Alice Townsend, the current DMU program director, knew Dr. Clem as a professor before graduating with her ultrasound degree from Mizzou in 2008. She said he was incredibly memorable in and out of the classroom.
“His approachable nature and the quality of his teaching made learning engaging and prepared me for success on my board exams and in the clinical setting,” Townsend said. “All three current DMU faculty, as well as the incoming faculty member who will carry his torch, are program graduates who benefited from his teaching and mentorship. His legacy is woven into the fabric of our program, and his impact will continue to shape students and colleagues for years to come.”
During his time with the program, Dr. Clem has trained more than 350 sonographers. Townsend said those graduates have “contributed significantly to the availability and quality of vascular and cardiac sonography care throughout the state of Missouri.”
A harmonious next chapter
While he’s stepping away from his full-time role at Mizzou, Dr. Clem will be teaching some online courses for the Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences. He also plans to continue supporting students through philanthropic efforts, inviting anyone interested in contributing to these efforts to donate funds to the Excellence in Clinical Leadership Award that former CDS department chair Kathy Myers established at her retirement.
Awards from the fund help support Master of Health Science in Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences students who demonstrate initiative, innovation and leadership of capstone projects that exemplify “the highest standards of academic and professional excellence.”
Retirement will also see Dr. Clem devote more time to music. He’ll play in the University Band next semester, travel with Mizzou Bands to London next summer and continue to play euphonium with the Columbia Community Band, where he serves as board president.
Reflecting on his journey, Dr. Clem said it’s been a bit like the epiphany Dorothy experienced at the end of “The Wizard of Oz”: He had it all along.
“Looking back, I’m amazed at how it all was preparation for life as a college professor — even though I didn’t realize it at the time,” he said. “It took me 40 years to figure out who I was and wanted to be. When I got here at Mizzou, I said, ‘Yes! This is it!’”
