Henry Stankiewicz, Jr. has been inducted into the Clinical Engineering Hall of Fame in recognition of his significant contributions to Clinical Engineering. His notable achievements include ongoing teaching/mentoring in the VA and professional conferences/meetings, jointly created the local HTM society in the Boston area, jointly producing the award winning "Patient Safety Medical Equipment Incident Investigation Guidebook".  For five (5) decades Henry (Hank) Stankiewicz actively contributed to the field of Clinical Engineering. Throughout his career, as an employee with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and then as a consultant with BAH and Sigma Health Consulting, Hank has demonstrated exceptional leadership for the VA and in the global HTM community.

At Villanova University, while working on his Electrical Engineering Degree, Hank was the President of the local IEEE student organization. There, he organized monthly seminars and encouraged students to participate in engineering activities that made the University a better place to learn. Then, at Drexel University, completing his master's degree in BME, he was the Philadelphia grad student representative to IEEE. In that role he encouraged grad students in the Philadelphia area to participle in local civic activities.

After graduation, Hank worked for the VA in NY and then, he was promoted to the Chief BME role in the New Orleans VA. In 1977, Hank started working as Chief BME at the Boston VAMC. During his early time in Boston, he continued his outreach efforts with IEEE and was President of the local IEEE Engineering Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS).  In this role, he organized local Boston activities to support Biomedical Engineering. 

Recognizing that EMBS was more academically focused, Hank and Dave Harrington founded the Medical Device Society (MDS) specifically for Hospital Clinical Engineers - providing them with an opportunity to interact with other professionals through monthly seminars and triannual conferences. Hank's leadership was paramount to the chapter's early success. Eventually, the group merged with the New England Society of Clinical Engineering (NESCE) which continues to sponsor seminars and educational opportunities. Hank remains an active advisor and speaker in NESCE, influencing BMEs, CEs, and BMETs throughout New England and beyond.

At the Boston VAMC Hank enrolled as a formal VA BME Mentor. He is personally responsible for guiding and mentoring many BME Interns. Many Clinical Engineers who have gone on to successful careers in both the VA and private sector can trace their professional lineage back to working or interning at Boston.​

Within his extraordinary career, Hank led the evolution of VA Biomedical Engineering departments to meet continuous changes in health care delivery. He recognized the need for a standardized medical equipment procurement process and standardized Medical Equipment Management Plans (MEMP) for all the New England VAMC. In 1999, he was one of the first who recognized that a regional approach to Biomedical Engineering would improve service delivery. This innovative approach for HTM services is now the model for many HTM Programs. Hank went on to develop a HTM Program Evaluation Guide to measure and improve the performance of the VA HTM programs in New England. The HTM Program Evaluation Guide was expanded and is used across the entire VA. Hank has personally gone on several site visits utilizing the tool to measure, inform, and improve VA HTM Programs. Many of Hank' s ideas and concepts have made it into the bigger HTM community.  

Hank served in several VA Leadership details, notably as Head of the entire VA HTM Program in Washington, DC and as the Chief Operations Officer for VISN 1.

Hank impacted the global community. He developed a relationship with the Franklin Institute, Wentworth University, Boston University, Worchester Polytech Institute and the University of Connecticut. Working with these Universities, he was able to shape Clinical Engineer curriculums. These Universities trained students that ​​ended up working under his tutelage. The Boston HTM Department was recognized by BU as the best co-op company.

  

In the 1980s, Hank taught a weeklong class to visiting Ukraine engineering students (with his staff, Yadin David, and others) during a sponsored visit to Boston. In 2007, he traveled to Colombia (with Tobey Clark, Nancy Pressly, Petr Kresta, Antonio Hernandez and Matt Baritech) to teach courses at Medellin University. He always encouraged his staff to reach out too and supported their time on two (2) other ACCE foreign trips. 

At an early HIMSS conference Hank presented on Clinical Engineering's role in the then emerging field of telehealth. An updated version was presented at the AAMI eXchange 2024.

He served as a member and Vice President of the Health Technology Foundation, HTF, and sought ways to raise funds to support Clinical Engineering initiatives like the first patient alarm management guide for HTM. He also served on the ACCE/HTCC Clinical Engineering Certification Commission and authored their Code of Ethics.  

In 2012, Hank retired from the VA, but retirement did not suit him. In 2013, he went to work with Booz Allen Hamilton as a Senior Clinical Engineer.  He worked with the VA HTM community by performing HTM and Central Supply Program Evaluations, EMR-medical equipment recording, and assisting in the roll out of a new CMMS (the first modification to the VA System in 25 years).

Hank continues his work influencing and supporting VA HTM professionals with Sigma Health Consulting.  He worked on medical equipment incident investigation throughout the country. He has personally investigated over 800 medical device incidents and taught local hospital-based HTM staff to mitigate risk and improve patient safety impacting countless lives.  He was instrumental in the development and publication of the VA HTM Incident Investigation Guidebook based on his work and that of others. He participates in on-site  HTM Program Assessments. He lectures on various HTM topics virtually and at annual conferences.  In January of 2026  he participated on the expert panel for the ACCE Webinar on Incident Investigations and in April, he and Shelly Leacock presented on Incident Investigations at MD EXPO in Baltimore.

In the VA, Henry "Hank" Stankiewicz is humorously referred to as a "living legend" whom his colleagues aspire to emulate. His contributions to the HTM profession continues.

He has a long list of presentations and published articles through NESCE, AAMI, ACCE, IEEE, ASHE, HIMMS, and numerous VA multidisciplinary conferences spanning decades.

In his private life, Hank was recognized as an Outstanding Assistant Scoutmaster by Scouting America, and is a member of Scouting's Order of the Arrow Honor Society. He taught leadership classes to Scout Youth and Adults. Hank remains active in his church and community. 

Education, Certification, Registration & Peer Recognition 

• B.E., Electrical Engineering, Villanova University, Philadelphia, PA, 1973
• M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, 1975
• VA Outstanding Biomedical Engineering, 1997, 2009
• Federal Government Scissor Award, 1999
• ACCE Professional Achievement in Management Excellence Award, 2009 
• Certified Clinical Engineer, Healthcare Technology Certification Commission, 2011
  
• ACCE Lifetime Achievement Award, 2020 
• Fellow of the American College of Clinical Engineering (ACCE), 2021
  

What others had to say about Hank's career: 

"Unlike standard professional excellence, Hank's influence is seen in his commitment to mentoring the next generation and advocating for the profession. His interns from the VA Intern Program, the UCONN program, and BU and Wentworth Universities have supported and worked with my staff, cultivating and developing excellence within the next generation of engineers, the true hallmark of a visionary and leader. These efforts have improved the healthcare industry's understanding of clinical engineering's value, leaving an incredible mark that will stand the test of time."

"Within his extraordinary career, Hank led the evolution of VA Biomedical Engineering departments to meet continuous changes in health care delivery. He recognized the need for a standardized medical equipment procurement process and standardized Medical Equipment Management Plans (MEMP) for all New England VAMC. He was the first in the VA enterprise to recognize that a regional approach to Biomedical Engineering would improve services and established the VISN 1 New England Clinical Engineering Program in 1999. This innovative approach for HTM services pioneered the model which reshaped the entire VA HTM Program. Hank went on to develop an HTM Program Evaluation Guide to measure and improve the performance of the VA HTM programs in New England. Because of Hank, VISN 1 became and is still recognized as the progressive leader in the VA HTM community. Now, assisting VHA in the next evolution of their HTM Program, he has expanded and improved the VISN 1 HTM Program Evaluation Guide for use across the country. Hank has personally gone on several site visits utilizing the tool to measure, inform, and improve VHA HTM Programs. Hank has never been shy about taking on additional responsibilities accepting several VA Leadership details, notably as Head of the entire VHA HTM Program in Washington, DC and as the Chief Operations Officer for VISN 1. Beyond New England, Hank has reached and positively impacted the global BME community. He taught a weeklong class to visiting Ukraine engineering students (with his staff and ACCE colleagues) during a sponsored visit to Boston. With the ACCE, he also traveled to Columbia to teach courses at a university there. He always encouraged his staff to reach out too and supported their time on two (2) other ACCE foreign trips."