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ACCE 2024 Professional Achievement in Management/Managerial Excellence AwardThe award is given to an individual for his/her contributions to the CE profession of a managerial nature, such as a paper of significance, solving of a problem or issue for the profession, or the application of new techniques to CE with measurable positive results. Carolyn Mahoney, CCE, CHTMThe award winner this year is Carolyn Mahoney, CCE, CHTM, for her ongoing support and continued improvement to personnel management and equipment procurement tracking process that have significant impact to VA HTM community.
Carolyn started working for the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) after graduating from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) with her master’s in engineering. She worked for several different VAs including Seattle, WA and Ann Arbor, MI. Before spending most of her career in the New England Healthcare system. Carolyn worked for the VA for over 31 years before retiring in 2023. During her long career with the VA, she worked to strengthen the regional clinical engineering program by developing a process for consistent department reviews, standardizing equipment requesting and procurement tracking and working closely with sites to improve key performance measures.
She joined Sigma Health Consulting shortly after retiring. There she still works closely with the VA assisting with standardized technical specification and planned maintenance procedures. She enjoys working with the Sigma team and continuing to assist the VA. ACCE 2024 Professional Achievement in Technology AwardThe award is given to a single individual for his/her contributions to the CE profession. These contributions must be of a professional or technical nature, such as research or development of a new technique or product, a paper of significance on a technical issue, or "trailblazing" work in a new application of clinical engineering. Carl B. CrossThis year's recipient is Carl B. Cross for his innovative work on a PowerBI Analytics portal for Medical Device Cybersecurity data serving the entire VA HTM community, including the development of enterprise interactive reports for tracking Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency directives to monitor remediation of critical vulnerabilities. This work benefits the VA HTM community on a daily basis.
Carl is a Biomedical Engineer with the VA Southeast Network of the Veterans Health Administration, where he serves as the Medical Device Cybersecurity Lead. He started his career with the VA in the Technical Career Field program at the Loma Linda VA Healthcare System. Later he joined the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC, where he became the Assistant Chief of Healthcare Technology Management.
Carl received his BS and MS degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Wright State University, focusing his graduate studies and research in Medical Imaging and Signal Processing. His publications included the use of non-contact sensors for physiological measurements with machine learning models to detect psychological stress.
Throughout the past decade with the VA, Carl developed foundational skills in Clinical Engineering while managing technology implementations and overseeing HTM operations in various roles. He enjoys using data analytics to devise innovative solutions for HTM departments to solve complex problems and improve performance of daily activities. Carl actively contributes on national VA workgroups related to data analytics and medical device security, leveraging the VA’s homegrown tools (courtesy of those that blazed trails ahead of him) to produce interactive business intelligence reports and dashboards for analyzing the networked systems inventory and tracking cybersecurity initiatives.
Carl was awarded the VHA Biomedical Engineer of the Year Award in 2023 and the TechNation Ingenuity Award in 2024. ACCE 2024 Lifetime Achievement AwardThis award is the highest award given by ACCE. It is presented annually to a single individual based on lifelong accomplishments and contributions to the clinical engineering (CE) profession.
Thomas Bauld, PhD, CCE, FACCE, FAIMBEThis year's Life Time Achievement Award is presented to Dr. Thomas Bauld, a Biomedical Engineer, Leader, Mentor and past ACCE President (1994-1996).
Thomas is a biomedical engineer who is retired from practice. During his last active years on the job, from November 2007 - June 2017, he worked at the VA's National Center for Patient Safety (NCPS) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. NCPS promotes best practices for safe and optimal patient care throughout the organization. Accordingly, NCPS guides the VHA and external stakeholders on policies and strategies to measure and mitigate harm to the veterans and those who support their care. It also promotes clinical team training and a just and safe culture.
Thomas graduated with his Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1965. He then went on to earn his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Penn in 1972. In 1973, the Engineers Club of Philadelphia awarded him their Junior Merit Award. With his experience in Clinical Engineering and his devotion to improving patient safety, Thomas was honored with the AAMI Clinical Engineer of the Year Award in 1985. He also received the Tom O'Dea Advocacy Award from ACCE in 2017, given to an individual who has promoted the profession of Clinical Engineering to people in other related fields.
While finishing his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania, he changed direction from fundamental research in ultrasonic properties of tissues to biomedical engineering management. After starting the first department of Biomedical Engineering at Sinai Hospital of Detroit in1974, Thomas began networking with other biomedical engineering managers in the Southeast Michigan area, and in 1975, they began the Michigan Society of Clinical Engineers, which later changed to the more inclusive Michigan Society for Clinical Engineering. At five-year intervals from 1980 - 1995, he co-chaired three Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Regional Meetings in Southeast Michigan.
While at the University of Michigan Hospitals, he initiated 24/7 BMET service coverage and added a BMET to the Code Blue team. Thomas was among the founders of the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), chaired the Committee that formulated the definition of a Clinical Engineer and served as ACCE's President from 1994-1996. At AAMI, Thomas was on the Board of Directors, chaired the Awards Committee for seven years, and served as the Engineering VP.
Along with a talented group, of BMETs, Thomas helped develop a two-plus-two-year bachelor's degree program in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Technology at Eastern Michigan University in 1996. 2024 Tom O’Dea Advocacy AwardThe award is given to an individual who has written articles, given presentations, or led efforts that have advanced the field of CE – particularly in promoting the profession to people in other related fields. Jennifer Nichols, MSE, CCE, CHTMThe award winner is Jennifer Nichols for her profound interest in advancing clinical engineering and promoting clinical engineering certification among HTM professionals.
Jenn Nichols, a General Manager of Clinical Engineering for TRIMEDX, has grown her career in Clinical Engineering over the last thirteen years since starting in the industry. She has held multiple roles throughout her career at TRIMEDX including Assistant Site Manager, Site Manager, Regional Director, Project Director for the Integration Management Office, Division Vice President, and most recently her promotion to General Manager.
Her passion and drive have paved the way to grow in knowledge and skill. Over the last decade, she has obtained a certificate in biomedical equipment technology, her CCE and CHTM certifications, and became involved in multiple industry associations to better enhance her technical abilities and leadership skills. Jenn has served as the ACCE Book of Knowledge Committee Chair since obtaining her CCE in 2021, hosted multiple webinars for the CCE Written Review Series, co-led the CCE Oral Review Webinar, recorded a webinar with Katherine Navarro on the CCE application and certification process, and authored and edited multiple chapters in the BOK Study Guide. In 2021, Jenn led the committee and completed the analysis for the 2021 Body of Knowledge Survey Results.
Additionally, Jenn is a member and current chair of the AAMI ACI Board, a guest for multiple podcasts, a reoccurring guest lecturer for the Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Department at Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo on HTM and Supply Chain, the Chair of the Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering Industry Advisor Board at Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo, member of the Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo Women’s Engineering Program Industry Advisor Board for close to 20 years, and CMIA Conference chair for twelve years to provide continuous education for the HTM industry in California and introduce others to the HTM industry. Jenn serves as a mentor for two Cal Poly women engineering students a year in addition to serving as a mentor through the TRIMEDX Mentor Xchange. She proudly serves as a leader of the TRIMEDX Women’s Associate Resource Group since its inception in 2019.
Jenn is passionate about introducing and elevating the HTM industry. In all of her roles, she focuses driving operational excellence, providing outstanding customer service, and developing her people to be best in class. Jenn holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and MS in Engineering with a Specialization in Integrated Technology Management from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. ACCE/HTF 2024 Marv Shepherd Patient Safety AwardThe award will be given to an individual who has excelled in the "safety" area related to the CE field.
This is a joint Award between ACCE and the Healthcare Technology Foundation. Bruce C. Hansel, PhD, CCEThe award recipient this year is Bruce Hansel, Principal & Chief Scientist in ECRI’s Health Incident Investigation & Technology Consulting (Hii-TECH) & Device Evaluation group.
Since Dr. Hansel received this prestigious award in 2014, he continues to contribute to patient safety. Dr Hansel developed ECRI Accident Intelligence Program™ in 2016 to promote ECRI’s accident investigation services proactively to the healthcare community. He also developed Healthcare Incident Management and Investigation Course in 2019 that strengthen healthcare facilities’ ability to respond to medical device incidents. Dr. Hansel is committed to reducing medical misconnection. His effort has facilitated the adoption of EnFit enteral-specific small-bore connectors in US hospitals, as well as advocating safe use of Luer connectors published in Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation newsletter in 2021.
On March 1st this year, Dr. Hansel began his 41st year at ECRI. During those many years, he has done several device evaluations, countless hazard investigations, and many special projects. Very early in Bruce’s ECRI career, Mark Bruley recognized that he had a knack for accident investigation aided by his academic training in biology, chemistry, and materials bioengineering. In 1986, Mark and Bruce started the Accident and Forensic Investigation Group to focus on assisting hospitals with medical device and procedure related accidents. Bruce served as Director of the Group for many years and has performed approximately 1000 investigations and overseen many more. He also serves on several AAMI standards committees. Currently, Bruce is Chief Scientist for Device Safety at ECRI and has no plans to retire. Like many septuagenarians, he likes birdwatching and cooking, baking in particular.
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