Posthumous Recipient

July 23, 1953- February 20, 2013

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Leslie R. Atles, or "Les" - as he liked to be called - has been inducted into the Clinical Engineering Hall of Fame in recognition of his leadership skills and lifelong contributions to the early development of educational and training materials for the clinical engineering profession.

• Les was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut where his family had first settled in the United States after fleeing as refugees from post-World War 2 Austria.
  
• He began his career at the St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, initially in 1974 as a biomedical technician, then for 13 years from 1976 until 1989, as the hospital's Director of Biomedical Engineering and Telecommunications.
• It was during this early part of his career that Les became a strong supporter of the California Medical Instrumentation Association (CMIA) – a multi-chapter grass-roots organization based on the West Coast. His pioneering work with the CMIA was recognized in 1989 by the Association awarding him their Lifetime Member Award. 
  
• Also in 1989, he joined Marquette Electronics, Inc. - first as a Regional Biomedical Advisor then, in 1992, as their National Biomedical Advisor where he continued his pioneering educational work reaching out primarily to the biomedical technicians then working in the nation's hospitals. 
• From 1991 until 1995, Les was also a part-time Instructor in Biomedical Technology at LA Valley College in Van Nuys, CA.  During this time, he also chaired the College's Biomedical Advisory Committee.
• In the latter part of his career, in 1995, Les was recruited by Masterplan, Inc – one of several growing national independent service providers. He became a key contributor to a small but creative department charged with developing new services and ideas and that would hopefully lead to unique, innovative offerings that would make the company more competitive. This creative department was considered internally as somewhat analogous to the famous "Skunk Works" which was an important and very creative part of Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program Department.
  
• In 2010 Les took a position with the Department of Veterans Affairs as Chief Biomedical Engineer at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. 
  
• Les died in early 2013, at the age of 59, from complications of Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Unfortunately, this left him quadriplegic and only semi-conscious. He spent the last six months of his life on full time ventilator support. 

Education, Certification and Peer Recognition: 

• A.S. Biomedical Technology, Los Angeles Valley College, Van Nuys, CA., 1973
• B.A. Health Services Administration, St Mary's College, Moraga, CA., 1980
  
• Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician (CBET), AAMI/ ICC, 1989
  
• Lifetime Member Award, California Medical Instrumentation Association, 1989
• Occupational Education/Economic Development Award, California State Community College, 1994
• Certified Clinical Engineer (CCE), HTCC, 2006
  
• Professional of the Year, California Medical Instrumentation Association, 2009
• ACCE-HTF Marv Shepherd Patient Safety Award, 2010

Summary of Achievements

Les Atles was an outstanding visionary who made enormous contributions to the evolution of Clinical Engineering or the Healthcare Technology Management (HTM) profession, as it has been called more recently. Over his professional lifetime, sp​anning more than forty years, he contributed to the cause of Clinical Engineering in several important ways. 

During the early part of his career, he began his lifelong practice of making major contributions developing educational resources for the biomedical technician workforce distributed throughout the nation's hospitals. His first contribution, in 1994, was authoring AAMI's pioneering guidance on "How to Establish and Maintain a Local Biomedical Organization"; his second major contribution, in 1995, was co-authoring a book titled "The Affinity Reference Guide for Biomedical Technicians" which remains a fixture at virtually every biomedical technician's workbench. The first and subsequent editions of this widely appreciated manual were published by Marquette Electronics. Les also acted as Editor of the associated Affinity Newsletter.  The third contribution was his widely acclaimed 948-page textbook published by Kendall Hunt and titled: "A Practicum for Biomedical Engineering & Technology Management". This enormous book was his "labor of love", finally published in 2008. It has similarly become a vital part of the academic backbone of the educational materials now serving the profession. He personally authored a number of the chapters in the book, as well as editing the balance of more than fifty chapters contributed by a significant cross section of his contemporary luminaries. 

       

It is no exaggeration to describe these contributions as fundamental to the development of this important new profession that was still, in the 1970s and 1980s, an embryonic but growing workforce. In addition to playing a strong, leadership role in supporting local organizations serving the growing ranks of biomedical engineers and technicians who were at that time beginning to appear in hospitals other than the major teaching hospitals, Les also took time to volunteer for, and join with others in visiting similar local organizations that had begun to appear in hospitals located in less affluent parts of the world. These hospitals, just like most of the community hospitals in the US, were experiencing the growing use of ever more complex patient care equipment and devices which needed more cost-effective support than that generally available from the manufacturers of the equipment. Les participated in International Training Teams, visiting both Lithuania and Latvia in 1997, and a team visiting Romania in 1999. 

As the Director of Technology Management at Masterplan, Les teamed with others in developing sophisticated analytical tools such as Return on Investment (ROI) indices and Equipment Replacement Planning (ERP) techniques similar to those used by Chief Technology Officers in other businesses. He had an excellent ability with modern spreadsheet techniques and became the irreplaceable "technical whiz" behind several very successful cutting-edge innovations pioneered by Masterplan's Technology Management team. 

In 2010, Les became the Chief Biomedical Engineer at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, one of the Department of Veterans Affairs largest and most complex healthcare systems, which provides Veterans with outstanding health care, trains America's future health care providers, and conducts important medical research. In this position Les had the responsibility for maintaining the safety and reliability of a large inventory of mission-critical medical equipment distributed across multiple campuses.  

Below are some selected excerpts from materials supporting his nomination 

"Thirteen years after his untimely passing, Les's impact on our profession remains vivid, enduring and measurable – in the careers he shaped, the organizations he strengthened, the literature he created, and the HTM services he championed…. He has earned notable awards and recognition throughout his remarkable career…. These accolades reflect not only his technical acumen, but also his unwavering dedication to patient safety and the continued advancement of our field…. Perhaps Les's most lasting legacy is the body of knowledge he created and generously shared. He conceived, developed and edited the celebrated A Practicum for Biomedical Engineering & Technology Management, a 948-page, 55-chapter compendium authored by 30 subject-matter experts. This "labor of love" remains a touchstone in shops and departments across the country. For his exceptional leadership, contributions to professional literature, sustained commitment to patient safety, and profound influence as a mentor and community builder, I strongly and wholeheartedly recommend Leslie R. Atles for induction into the Clinical Engineering Hall of Fame. His legacy continues to shape our practices and our people; there are few honors more fitting than to recognize him among the giants of our profession."