ARLINGTON, VA — Four individuals who have demonstrated a passion for and dedication to the medical technology field have been nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) for three-year terms.

Combined, the four leaders will bring more than a century of medical technology experience to AAMI’s Board. Each was selected for their long history of participation in AAMI activities and for their strong leadership skills.

Paul Kelley, CBET, biomedical engineering manager with the Washington Hospital Healthcare System in Fremont, CA, is well known in his community for his many years of service to the California Medical Instrumentation Association (CMIA).

Kelley has also been extremely active in AAMI activities, as both a charter member of AAMI’s Technology Management Council (TMC), and a current member of the planning committee for AAMI’s Annual Conference.

As a member of AAMI’s Board, Kelley hopes to further extend one of the TMC’s objectives, which is to “make AAMI more accessible to the rank and file BMET.”
In his role with the Washington Hospital Healthcare System, Kelley supervises a biomed staff of six employees, with a budget of more than $1 million and an inventory of more than 3,500 devices.

Ahmad Sajadi will bring more than 25 years of experience in quality assurance, regulatory affairs, product development/design, and production and process controls to AAMI’s Board.

Sajadi is the vice president of development quality assurance with Cardinal Health’s Clinical Technologies and Services in San Diego, CA, where he is responsible for new product development and design and all aspects of quality assurance and quality control for new products.

Sajadi lends his experience to a number of AAMI standards development committees, including AAMI’s ECG (electrocardiogram) Committee, Quality Management Committee, Waveform Testing Committee, and Infusion Device Committee.

“It is an honor to be a part of such a prestigious organization. I will do my best to ensure that AAMI achieves its full potential as a leader among standards-setting organizations,” says Sajadi. “It is critical for AAMI to maintain its leadership role in setting standards for the user community as well as the industry.”

Glenn Scales, CBET, has dedicated himself for the last 30 years to the educational and professional development of the biomedical equipment technician (BMET) community. And as patient safety specialist with the Duke University Health System, he investigates all device-related patient safety incidents that take place within the system. He also participates in new product evaluations and implementations within the system.

A founding member and current leader of the North Carolina Biomedical Association, Scales notes that “AAMI has a proven history of influencing the growth and development of the healthcare industry, and I am looking forward to helping to continue this rich tradition. I also hope to help influence the next generation of professionals just beginning their careers.”

Scales currently serves on the Editorial Board of AAMI’s journal, BI&T, and has served on the program committee for AAMI’s Annual Conference for the past three years.

Vickie Snyder — also a charter member of the TMC — helps to serve the interests of biomeds and clinical engineers by contributing to a variety of AAMI and TMC projects, such as IT Horizons — a special AAMI publication that addresses the burgeoning information technology issues medical technology professionals face.

Snyder has been particularly active in the biomed community in Minnesota, serving as a leader of the North Central Biomedical Association, a local society for biomeds and clinical engineers in Minnesota and the Dakotas.

The biomedical engineering manager for the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Snyder has 20 years of experience in the medical technology field. In addition to running the day-to-day operations of the biomed department, she is responsible for new equipment installs and implementation, staff training, regulation and standards compliance, and hazardous material removal.

The four nominations — which were recommended by AAMI’s Nominating Committee — are pending approval of AAMI’s membership at the annual business meeting, which will take place during AAMI’s Annual Conference, May 31–June 2 in San Jose, CA.

In addition, the following members have been nominated or renominated to AAMI’s Board:

• Marcy Petrini (Chair-Elect; two-year term)
• Ray Laxton (Vice Chair for BMET; three-year term)
• Kim Richter (Health Care Admin Vice Chair; three-year term)
• Nathaniel Sims (Vice Chair for Medical Device Research; two-year term)

The Nominating Committee also renominated two members as directors for three-year terms:

• Steve Yelton, chairman of information systems and engineering technologies at Cincinnati State Technical Community College
• Eamonn Hoxey, executive director of quality and compliance with
  Johnson & Johnson

Lastly, the following individuals were selected to serve on AAMI’s Nominating Committee for a three-year term:

• Alex Grob, director of regulatory affairs with GE Healthcare
• Robert Founds, manager of quality assurance programs with St. Jude Medical’s Cardiac Rhythm Management Division in Sunnyvale, CA

All of these nominations, along with the four new nominations to the AAMI Board, will be presented for election during the business meeting at AAMI’s Annual Conference.