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The AAMI Foundation & ACCE Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award recognizes individuals who have applied healthcare technology to improving global human conditions. This award was established in 2001 in memory of Robert Morris, founding member of ACCE and President 1998-1999, who was a leader in ACCE international outreach efforts in the developing world. The award criteria are focused on individuals who have planned, led, and participated in global CE efforts primarily on a voluntary or chartable basis and represent a positive role model with passion for humanitarianism or through "Extra-curricular activities" as exemplified by Robert Morris.
For full criteria and 2024 nomination form & instructions,  click here.
Award Winners2023 Shauna Mullally
Shauna Mullally, Manager, Health Technology Planning, Department of Health and Social Services, GOvernment of the Norwest Territories.
Shauna actively worked with the International Outreach Committee of the Canadian
Medical & Biological Engineering Society (CMBES) to examine medical
equipment donation from Canada to low resource countries. Her practice was so
widely received that it was presented at the AHT conference in London in 2012. Her
volunteer work to expand visibility on our field has allowed her to work with
various NGOs in the developing world and collaborate their efforts with
governmental and international organizations. This volunteering with NGOs has
extended to her work at the World Health Organization supporting COVID-19
respiratory equipment training courses. Shauna has been a technical role model
as well, in building workplans and templates for the COVID-19 relief project,
which now has over 14,000 active participants across the globe. Over the course
of her career thus far, she has actively presented her learnings and taught professionals,
publishing over 50 scholarly articles and hundreds of presentations related to
HTM planning and delivery in the developing world.
2022 Kevin TaylorA recognition for his commitment and insights in the health technology field. His colleagues describe him as a trusted, knowledgeable, and passionate individual whose humanitarian efforts have applied healthcare technology to improving global human conditions.
"Bob
employed me right out of college and he inspired me to constantly seek a career
path which entailed building health technology management programs in
historically underserved areas,” Kevin explained. “I am truly honored by this
award and I hope to continue to live up to the level of humanitarian service
and leadership that I watched Bob provide both in North America and around the
world."
“As an HTM/CE professional having a full-time employment
and volunteering with multiple organizations, his significant contributions
speak volumes of his dedication to the HTM/CE profession. Among the
many accomplishments, I want to shed light on Kevin’s significant contributions
as an HTM/CE professional. He has truly strengthened the collaboration across
HTM/CE professionals in the United States and around the world. Promoting the
use of medical technologies in developing countries, planning equipment effectively,
improving partnerships within the healthcare delivery organizations and with
manufacturers, and building effective HTM/CE teams that provide end-to-end
management of clinical technologies have been Kevin’s value deliveries in our
profession.”, said Priyanka Upendra, ACCE President.
2021 Antonio HernandezAntonio Hernandez, consultant, Founding member and Board of
Director’s member of the Global Health International Advisors (GHIA), Regional
Office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Americas, and past chair
of ACCE International Committee.
As
Senior Advisor on Health Services Physical Infrastructure and Technology from
The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO),
Antonio made significant humanitarian contributions in the area of medical technology
globally. His impact was both at the highest levels of government and on the
ground working with technical staff. In partnership with ACCE faculty, Antonio
coordinated capacity building in the Americas via leadership of more than 25
Advanced Clinical Engineering Workshops from the mid 1990’s
to 2015. Many included Bob Morris as a key faculty member.
2020 Frank Painter, MS, CCE, FACCEFrank Painter, retired clinical engineering internship program director & adjunct professor, biomedical engineering graduate program, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Connecticut in Storr, CT.
Painter reflects the spirit of Robert L. Morris’s vision and the necessary elements of making that vision a reality. His dedication to the healthcare technology management (HTM) profession is evident through his educational and humanitarian work spanning decades for various organizations including ACCE, the World Health Organization, International Aid, and more. He established the only master’s degree in clinical engineering in the United States at the University of Connecticut and revived clinical engineering credentialing programs that have been duplicated in Canada, Mexico, and China. Throughout his career, Painter has promoted and facilitated continuing education through personal example of developing, teaching, and mentoring locally and globally. 2019 William Gentle, PhD, CCEThis year’s winner, William Gentles, was described as “a positive role model” with “a passion and dedication” for both humanitarian and clinical engineering (CE) efforts around the world. Gentles, who has 50 years of experience in the healthcare technology management (HTM) field, has been the leader of the Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society’s “Tools for Techs” project since 2017, which has provided crowdsourced cash grants to frontline HTM professionals in Ghana, Mongolia, Tanzania, and Rwanda to purchase badly needed tools so they can be more effective in their roles. He also has administered the INFRATECH International Email Discussion Group on CE/HTM sponsored by the World Health Organization and the Pan-American Health Organization for nearly 20 years. Gentles said he will be contributing the funds associated with his award to the Tools for Techs project.
2018 Robert DickinsonRobert Dickinson, an independent consultant and globe-trotting healthcare technology management (HTM) leader, has been selected to receive this year's award. Rob, who was born in Zimbabwe, has provided training on HTM, anesthesia, and critical care systems in more than two dozen countries, working with organizations such as the WHO, International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering, Engineering World Health, Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, Operation Smile, and Gradian Health System.
Dickinson also has worked with local and international universities to teach and support their biomedical engineering and HTM students, international medical equipment companies to provide training and technical support for their products, and multilateral organizations and NGOs to undertake healthcare technology–related assignments within low-resource countries. 2017 Adriana Velazquez BerumenThis year’s winner, Adriana Velazquez Berumen, has spent her 30-year career developing and leading projects to promote clinical engineering education and professional development throughout the world so more people have access to safe, high-quality healthcare. She focuses on regions where resources and opportunities are limited. During her tenure at the WHO, Adriana created a global model for clinical engineering practice and established the first and second WHO Global Forums on Medical Devices.
Adriana Velasquez is the senior advisor on medical devices for the Policy, Access, and Use Unit of the World Health Organization (WHO). 2016 Roy MorrisRoy Morris is the recipient of this year's award for his eight years of service around the world. Morris has helped design and construct healthcare facilities, train technical staff, organize equipment donations, and install and repair equipment in countries such as Ukraine, Honduras, Ecuador, and Iraq. He also was part of a 2010 earthquake disaster team in Haiti and organized a 2013 typhoon biomed response in the Philippines for Project HOPE, an international healthcare organization. 2015 Robyn W. Frick, CCERobyn W. Frick, CCE, Clinical Engineer at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, ME.
This award—honoring the late humanitarian Robert Morris—recognizes individuals or organizations whose humanitarian efforts have applied healthcare technology to improving global human conditions. Frick has spent decades travelling around the world to educate biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) in underserved nations.
2014 Ismael CorderoA career of humanitarian work. For more than 20 years, Ismael Cordero has traveled the world to teach healthcare technology management (HTM) professionals about medical equipment, particularly in the area of ophthalmology. He has performed work for ORBIS International, a nonprofitt organization dedicated to preventing blindness, and its Flying Eye Hospital. In addition, he has completed mission work in Haiti, Guyana, and many other countries. Currently, Cordero is a biomedical services manager at Gradian Health Systems in New York.
Many of his peers have been impressed by his dedication to help those he taught. Cordero often returns to those countries to ensure what he has taught has been implemented. “This is an unusual event for many of us who have done the work, seeing what we taught being used by people in all levels of healthcare technology,” said Dave Harrington, executive director of the American Medical Resources Foundation.
Cordero is “teaching our profession principles without expectation for reward or recognition. He has done it over many years without a letdown on his e orts and in many global locations that are in much need for technical guidance and networking,” wrote Yadin David, principal at Biomedical Engineering Consultants, LLC.
2013 Edward P. Myers, Jr.Ed Myers' body of volunteer work and nomination praise from his colleagues reveals his "humanitarian efforts to applying health technology to improving the global human conditions". The extent of his volunteer efforts demonstrates the criteria and spirit of the Robert L. Morris award.
"Ed has been involved in at least 11 medical projects with Assist International starting with Kazakhstan in 1993. There are two notable projects where Ed risked life and limb to install equipment in the ICU/CCU departments of hospitals in Afghanistan. In all the projects that Ed has done with us, he has gone out of his way to give his expertise in organizing the project and following through for months afterwards with each hospital. He has gone beyond the call of duty to send to hospitals in developing countries the requirements, responsibilities, standards and conduct.
It is because of guys like Ed who takes what they do seriously and follow through that makes these projects successful. One more thing: Ed has taken vacation time to do these projects, which I know takes him away from family, yet he never hesitates when we ask him to participate in a project and he is not paid to do what he does. He is strictly a volunteer. I’m excited that Ed is the unanimous person chosen to receive the Robert L. Morris Award. I know the other two that were considered are highly qualified. My hope is that they will receive serious consideration next year. One more thing: Ed has been on a number of humanitarian projects with Bob Morris. Bob Morris did many projects with Assist before his passing." 2012 Billy Teninty, CBET2011 James Wear, PhD2010 Thomas Judd, MS, CCE2010 Brad Carrott2009 J. Tobey Clark, CCEHumanitarian Educator. J. Tobey Clark goes beyond borders to share his thirty-five
years of experience in healthcare technology management, safety, and medical
devices.
In
recognition of his work educating medical technical professionals abroad on
clinical engineering, Clark is the winner of the 2009 AAMI Foundation/American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE) Robert
L. Morris Humanitarian Award. He has worked with developing countries by
leading advanced clinical engineering workshops, developing online courses, and
mentoring clinical engineering interns.
“Receiving the Robert Morris
Humanitarian Award is both exciting and humbling given the many deserving
individuals in our field serving the global community”, says Clark, director,
Instrumentation and Technical Services at the University of Vermont.
“As a result of his services,
professionals in many countries have created solid technology management
programs that include many of the fundamentals, including procurement planning
and technician skill development,” says Jennifer L. Jackson, ACCE president. 2008 Yadin David, EdD, CCE, PE, HCSP2007 Louis W. Schonder, CBETIn recognition
for the work he accomplished over nearly a decade volunteering for Project Open
Hearts, a nonprofit organization that provides foreign medical staffs with
first-hand surgical training and assistance, and supports orphaned children and
needy families, Lou Schonder of Upper Darby, PA has been named the winner of
the 2007 AAMI Foundation/ACCE
Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award.
Working with Project Open Hearts (POH), and now founding and
serving as Director of a new organization, earthMed, has been rewarding in many
ways for Schonder. “I've met and worked with many talented, dedicated
healthcare professionals, including my fellow POH volunteers and the many
professionals at the hospitals POH has supported over the years,” he said.
In early 2006, Schonder was appointed Director of Medical Programs
for Project Open Hearts, based in Denver, CO. “Having an opportunity to be one
of the leaders and managers of such an impressive team of healthcare
professionals was an exceptional honor.”
“Volunteering overseas”, said Schonder, “offers an
incomparable opportunity to experience many aspects of other societies that
cannot be experienced during a casual vacation. Witnessing the miracles
performed by the surgical teams, and the intense appreciation of the patients
and their families — many of whom quite literally had their lives saved — is
something that cannot be explained in words.”
2006 Robert PagettRobert Pagett, the President of Assist International, has introduced many clinical engineers and BMETs to the wonderful feeling of doing for others with numerous humanitarian projects.
Bob and Assist International have brought so many clinical engineers into humanitarian field that collectively have helped millions that would otherwise have had little or no help. Most important is that 99% of those who have been involved with Assist International projects ask when they can go again, not where but when.
Bob always presented the clinical engineers on the teams as the key players in any installation. He made it clear to team members and local people that the clinical engineers were in charge and that they wee to support them as needed. 2005 David HarringtonDavid P. Harrington (August 22, 1941 - September 27, 2018)
Dave is awarded the 2005 Bob Morris Award for providing global humanitarian aid.
David has established joint ventures and
contracts between companies and medical schools and teaching hospitals. His
knowledge in medical instrumentation allowed him to participate in upgrading
intensive care units and operating rooms in Uganda, an emergency room and
communication systems in Romania, nurseries in China to name a few noble
contributions. His passion and truly dynamic personality touch the hearts of
that work with him - Izabella Gieras, ACCE President. 2004 Alfred G. JakniunasPosthumous Recipient
March 9, 1936 - October 1, 2003.
2003George I. Johnston, MS, CCEMr. Johnston's dedication to the profession is shown with his ongoing humanitarian efforts as he travels the world and helps those less fortunate in supporting their healthcare needs through medical technology, training and other noble efforts.
George was one of the first clinical engineers to become involved with international work. After his retirement he spent time working at hospitals in China where he shared his knowledge and skills with countless students, 2002 Herman R. Weed, PEHerman Roscoe Weed. August 5, 1922 - January 5, 2012
A retired professor of electrical and preventive medicine from Ohio State University; for over 30 years he has been involved with many humanitarian activities, a majority of them sponsored by Project Hope, a nonprofit foundation.
Professor Weed served as director of Project Hope's Biomedical Engineering Programs. He was responsible for designing, supervising, and monitoring Clinical Engineering assignements of all sizes and scopes. In this role, he served as an inspiration to Bob and many other clinical engineers who participated in these projects throughout the world. 2001 Robert L. Morris, CCE, PEOur Tribute to one of ACCE's most prominent founders: Clinical Engineer, Humanitarian and Mentor.
In honor of Bob’s unique international contributions, a perpetual annual award has been created in his name: the Robert L. Morris ACCE Humanitarian Award, to honor an individual humanitarian every year.
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