AARC Honors

AARCAARC
AARC
The Presidents and the annual award recipients of the American Association for Respiratory Care are featured.
AARC Presidents 1940s & 1950sAARC Presidents 1940s & 1950s
AARC Presidents 1940s & 1950s
The Presidents from 1947-1959 are featured.
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AARC Presidents 1960s
The Presidents from 1960-1969 are featured.
AARC Presidents 1970sAARC Presidents 1970s
AARC Presidents 1970s
The Presidents from 1970-1979 are featured.
AARC Presidents 1980sAARC Presidents 1980s
AARC Presidents 1980s
The Presidents from 1980-1989 are featured.
AARC Presidents 1990sAARC Presidents 1990s
AARC Presidents 1990s
The Presidents from 1990-1999 are featured.
AARC Presidents 2000sAARC Presidents 2000s
AARC Presidents 2000s
The Presidents from 2000-2010 are featured.
AARC presidents_2010_thru_2022AARC presidents_2010_thru_2022
AARC Presidents 2010 and 2020s
The Presidents from 2011-2022 are featured.
AARC Life MembershipAARC Life Membership
AARC Life Membership
Life membership is awarded to active members who have made an extraordinary contribution to the AARC and its affiliates.

To be eligible, individuals must be a member of the AARC for a minimum of fifteen (15) years, must have served in the AARC in an official capacity (national officer, Board member, committee chair or member, House of Delegates) for at least seven (7) years, and must have been active in affiliate operations and have served in an official capacity at the affiliate level.

Candidates are nominated by the AARC Board of Directors and House of Delegates and are elected by the Presidents Council.
AARC Life Membership AwardeesAARC Life Membership Awardees
AARC Life Membership Awardees
James S. Allen
Houston R. Anderson
John Appling
George Auld
Thomas A. Barnes
Richard W. Beckham
Sister Mary Blanche (Virginia) Trafford
Susan Blonshine
Janet M. Boehm
Richard D. Branson
Jerry Bridgers
Wilma Bright
Charlie G. Brooks Jr.
Patricia Brougher
Philip R. Cooper
Robert A. Cornelius
Deborah L Cullen
Bob Demers
Vijay M. Deshpande
Robert A. Dittmar
Gerald K. Dolan
Patricia A Doorley
William H. Dubbs
Patrick J. Dunne
Jeri E. Eiserman
Larry R. Ellis
Julie S. Ely
David H. Eubanks
Jim Fenstermaker
Robert Fluck Jr.
Richard M. Ford
Debra J. Fox
George W. Gaebler
William Galvin
Glen N. Gee
Kerry E. George
Gary L. Gerard
Don E Gilbert
Bernard P. Gilles
Michael Gillespie
Sam P. Giordano
Gareth B. Gish
Robert E Glass
Lynda Goodfellow
Sheila Guidry
Leonard Gurney
Carl Haas
Dean R. Hess
Fred Hill
John D. Hiser
Jerome Heydenberk
Hilaria Huff
John J. Julius
Louise H. Julius
Robert M. Kacmarek
Garry W. Kauffman
E. Lucy Kester
Bernard M. Kew
Dianne Kimball
Phil Kittredge
Joseph Klocek
Robert L. Knosp
George A. Kneeland
Vincent D. Kracum
Dianne L Lewis
James A. Liverett Jr
Brother Roland Maher
Arthur A. Markee
Melvin G. Martin
Sister Mary of Providence Dion
Ray Masferrer
Paul J. Mathews, Jr.
Doug McIntyre
Robert H. Miller
Shelley C Mishoe
Cynthia J. Molle
Timothy R. Myers
W. Furman Norris
James Peo
Paul Powers
P. Noble Price
Joseph Rau
Susan Rinaldo Gallo
John D Robbins
Toni Rodriguez
Lois A. Rowland
Samuel Runyon
Mike Runge
Frank R. Salvatore, Jr.
R.Jack Sangster
Colleen L. Schabacker
Karen Schell
David C. Shelledy
Edward A. Scully
Howard Skidmore
Jack Slagle
Easton R. Smith
Helen Sorenson
Bernard Stenger
Karen Stewart
Jerome M. Sullivan
Leah W. Tharaldson
Kenneth E. Thigpen
J. Michael Thompson
Margaret Traband
Lillian Van Buskirk
Linda I. Van Scoder
Brian Walsh
John R. Walton
Trudy J. Watson
Robert R. Weilacher
George A. West
James Whitacre
Carl P. Wiezalis
Patricia A Wise
J. Addison Young
AARC Honorary MembershipAARC Honorary Membership
AARC Honorary Membership
AARC Honorary membership is awarded to associate members who have made a special achievement or contribution to the AARC, its affiliates, or the profession of respiratory care.

To be eligible, associate members must have been active in AARC affairs for a period of a minimum of ten (10) years or worked in a field related to the goals of the Association for at least ten (10) years.

Candidates are nominated by the AARC Board of Directors and House of Delegates and are elected by the Presidents Council.
AARC Honorary Membership AwardeesAARC Honorary Membership Awardees
AARC Honorary Membership Awardees
Russell Acevedo MD
Michael T Amato
Albert H Andrews Jr MD
James P Baker MD
Alvan Barach MD
William Bernhard MD
Forrest M Bird PhD
Kathy Blackmon
Roger C Bone MD
John Brown MD
Steven K Bryant
Debbie Bunch
Marsha Cathcart
Kent Christopher MD
Vincent Collins MD
Asha Desai
Charles G Durbin Jr MD
Sister Bernice Ebner
Donald F Egan MD
Jill Eicher
John H Emerson
Edna Fiore
Ronald B George MD
Dale Griffiths
HF Helmholz Jr MD
John E Hodgkin MD
Duncan Holaday MD
Anne Marie Hummel
Foster M. “Duke” Johns, III
Grace Anne Dorney Koppel
Kris Kuykendall
Robert M Lawrence MD
Patricia A. Lee
Huberta M Livingston
Neil R MacIntyre MD
Hugh Mathewson MD
William F Miller MD
Sharyn Milligan
Hurley L Motley MD
John H Newell
Miriam A. O’Day
Walter J O’Donohue Jr MD
Peter J Papadakos MD
David J Pierson MD
Alan L Plummer MD
Bruce K. Rubin MD
Meyer Saklad MD
Barry A Shapiro MD
Richard L Sheldon MD
Alfred Soffer MD
James K Stoller MD
Lori M. Tinkler
John W. Walsh
Cheryl West
Irwin Ziment MD
medalmedal
AARC's Highest Award
The highest award presented by the AARC is the Jimmy A. Young Medal.

The medal is presented to individuals who have made meritorious contributions to the AARC and to the advancement of the profession.

To be eligible, individuals must have been active in AARC affairs for at least ten (10) years or worked in a field related to the goals of the Association for at least ten (10) years.

Candidates are nominated by the Presidents Council, screened by a committee composed of Jimmy A. Young Medalists, and elected by the Presidents Council.
Jimmy-A-YoungJimmy-A-Young
Jimmy A. Young
The Jimmy Albert Young Medal is proudly displayed in hospitals, schools, various offices, and homes throughout this country and elsewhere.

It testifies to the preeminent contributions this quiet, unassuming, highly skilled respiratory therapist rendered to society. At the 14th Annual Meeting and Lecture Series in Houston, TX in November 1968, he was elected to the Board of Directors replacing Robert Weilacher, the newly elected Association Vice President. (1) By early 1970, his seat on the Board of Directors remained intact, but adding to his responsibilities, President Robert Dittmar from Dayton, OH appointed him to the Editorial Board as an Assistant Editor, a position he held through 1971. This appointment was particularly appropriate in that his 363 page textbook, Principles and Practices of Inhalation Therapy, a text published by Year Book Medical Publishers, Chicago, in 1970, entered the marketplace. Copies of this historic text are still available from various booksellers throughout the country. (2)

This exceptional man was born on Wednesday, 6 November 1935, in South Carolina. As he approached adulthood, it was obvious self-aggrandizement would not tarnish his character. Only late in his respiratory therapy career was it generally known he was an avid sportsman; a skilled player and coach in baseball, softball, basketball, and football -- activities that almost exclusively inured to the benefit of disadvantaged youngsters wherever he lived. He admitted to his close colleagues, "My dinner was often cold, as was my wife, by the time I got home!"

Inhalation Therapy, the official journal of the American Association for Inhalation Therapy (AAIT), expired with Volume 16, Number 6, December 1970. It was supplanted by Respiratory Care, Volume 16, Number 1, January--February 1971, a title still in use to the present. From the support group known as Editorial Associates, only Jimmy Young and Thomas Barnes remained with seven new "Assistant Editors" supporting the newly titled Journal.

In 1960 he was hired as the Chief Inhalation Therapist at Brigham & Women's Hospital, known then as the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston MA. While employed at that institution in 1965, he successfully passed his Registry examination, becoming Registered Respiratory Therapist #263. With this credential and growing reputation as a highly skilled practitioner, he extended himself and relocated his family again by accepting the position of Director of Respiratory Therapy at Northeastern University in Boston.

His scholarship, credentials, (3) and history of community service made for a sterling reputation throughout the national respiratory care community. In early 1970, Massachusetts General Hospital recruited and hired him as its first director of their Respiratory Therapy Department. (4) This hospital with some 950 beds, was and is the oldest and largest general hospital in New England, and the third largest in the United States.

He was elected the twenty-second President of the AARC in 1973. I was honored to have sworn him into office and to have congratulated him on behalf of his contemporaries throughout the United States as well as his colleagues elsewhere in the world. He was delighted to have supported the first Respiratory Care Open Forum in Atlanta, Ga during his tenure in office.

Sadly, I joined our 1972 President James A. Liverett, Jr., on a flight to Boston in late December 1975 to attend Jimmy Young's funeral. It was a trip that generated angst to an unbelievable degree, especially as we talked at some length with his widow. As hospital employees ourselves, it was seemingly impossible that he would die in a hallway of a modern hospital having been summoned to his administrator's office.

After the funeral service ended and we made our way to the cemetery, Liverett and I approached Mrs. Young and their children. We readily discovered when we made an effort to console them, the family felt his familial priorities rested first with disadvantaged youngsters, his job, and then his family. Liverett and I were mostly silent as we flew back to New Orleans, somewhat traumatized by the loss of this brilliant man.

At this date, it is my personal conviction that Jimmy Albert Young was a human flower who nurtured his young petals from South Carolina to Massachusetts. They are now approaching middle age themselves and hopefully they will emulate this towering colleague who once led our professional society.

1. Inhalation Therapy, Vol. 13, #6, Dec. 1968
2. Inhalation Therapy, Vol. 15, #2, Apr. 1970
3. Robert Weilacher MEd, RRT
4. AARC Times, Sept. 2012, p. 38
Written by Robert Weilacher
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More about the Jimmy A. Young Award
Former AARC Executive Director Sam Giordano recently spoke about the impact of Jimmy A. Young.

Jimmy-A-Young-MedalistsJimmy-A-Young-Medalists
Jimmy A. Young Medalists
Houston R. Anderson
Thomas A. Barnes
Forrest M. Bird MD
Richard D. Branson
Robert L. Chatburn
Gilbert L. Davis
Thomas J. DeKornfeld MD
Patrick J. Dunne
Charles G. Durbin MD
David H. Eubanks
William F. Galvin
Douglas S. Gardenhire
Glen N. Gee
Kerry E. George
Sam P. Giordano
Gareth B Gish
HF Helmholz Jr, MD
Dean R. Hess
John D. Hiser
John R. Julius
Louise H Julius
Robert M. Kacmarek
Richard H. Kallet
Phil Kittredge
George A Kneeland
Vincent D Kracum
Jerry Krishnan MD
James A Liverett Jr
Neil R. MacIntyre MD
Brother Roland Maher
John J Marini MD
Ray Masferrer
William F Miller MD
Timothy R Myers
Thomas L. Petty MD
David J. Pierson MD
Bruce K. Rubin MD
Barry A Shapiro MD
Richard L.Sheldon MD
Louis M. Sinopoli
Jerome M. Sullivan
Margaret F. Traband
Teresa A. Volsko
John R. Walton
Trudy J. Watson
Robert R. Weilacher
James F. Whitacre
Zenith AwardsZenith Awards
Zenith Awards
Zenith Awards are presented to the top manufacturers, service organizations, and supply companies in the respiratory care industry.

AARC members vote for their top companies based on the quality of equipment and/or supplies, accessibility and helpfulness of sales personnel, responsiveness, service record, truth in advertising, and support of the respiratory care profession.
Zenith-Award-WinnersZenith-Award-Winners
Zenith Award Winners
2023
Aerogen
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Inc.
Medtronic
Monaghan Medical Corp.
Hamilton Medical
Drager
Tri-anim Health Services

2022
Aerogen
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Inc.
Medtronic/Puritan-Bennett
Masimo
Hamilton Medical
Drager, Inc.

2021
Aerogen
Fisher & Paykel
Medtronic
Monaghan Medical
Philips Healthcare
Tri-anim Health Services

2020
Aerogen
Fisher & Paykel
Monaghan Medical
Philips Healthcare
Tri-anim
Vapotherm

2019
Aerogen
Draeger Medical
Fisher & Paykel
Hamilton Medical
Monaghan Medical
Phillips

2018
Aerogen
Draeger
Fisher & Paykel
Monaghan
Philips
Tri-anim

2017
Aerogen
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Inc.
Monaghan Medical Corporation
Philips Healthcare
Tri-anim
Vyaire Medical

2016
Aerogen
CareFusion
Draeger
Fisher& Paykel
Monaghan Medical
Philips Respironics

2015
Aerogen
CareFusion
Draeger Medical Systems, Inc.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Inc.
Monaghan Medical Corporation
Philips Healthcare

2014
CareFusion
Covidien
Draeger
Masimo
Resmed
Teleflex

2013
Aerogen
Covidien
Draeger Medical Inc.
Masimo Corporation
Philips Respironics
Teleflex Medical

2012
Boehringer Ingelheim
Covidien
Draeger
Fisher & Paykel
Philips
Teleflex

2011
Covidien
Draeger
Philips Respironics
Masimo
Carefusion

2010
CareFusion
Covidien
Draeger
Kimberly-Clark
Masimo Corporation

2009
CareFusion
Covidien
Draeger Medical
GE Healthcare
Masimo

2008
Cardinal Health
Covidien
Masimo
Monaghan Medical
Respironics

2007
Cardinal Health
Covidien
INO Therapeutics
Monaghan Medical
Respironics

2006
Cardinal Health
INO therapeutics
Maquet
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Respironics
Viasys Healthcare

2005
Cardinal Health
Maquet
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Respironics
Viasys Healthcare

2004
Cardinal Health
Monaghan Medical
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Pulmonetic Systems
VIASYS Healthcare

2003
Boehringer Ingelheim
DHD Healthcare
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Respironics
Sepracor

2002
Bayer Diagnostics
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
ResMed
Respironics
VIASYS Healthcare

2001
DHD Healthcare
Monaghan Medical
Puritan Bennett
Salter Labs
VIASYS Healthcare

2000
Allegiance Healthcare
DHD Healthcare
GlaxoWellcome
Mallinckrodt
Pulmonetics Systems

1999
Dey Labs
Hamilton
Mallinckrodt
Monaghan
Respironics

1998
AVL Scientific
Dey Labs
DHD
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Respironics

1997
Dey Labs
DHD
GlaxoWellcome
Radiometer
Siemens

1996 (tie for 4)
AVL
DHD
Monaghan
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Respironics

1995
Allen & Hanburys
Baxter
Ciba Corning
Lifecare
Nellcor Puritan Bennett
Siemens

1994
Allen & Hanburys
Ohmeda
Puritan Bennett
Respironics
Siemens

1993
Allen & Hanburys
IL
Monaghan
Nellcor
Respironics

1992
Allen & Hanburys
Baxter
Hudson RCI
Nellcor
Puritan-Bennett

1991
Allen & Hanburys
IL
Puritan-Bennett
Radiometer
Respironics

1990
Allen & Hanburys
Baxter
Ohmeda
Puritan-Bennett
Siemens

1989
Allen & Hanburys
Hudson
Nellcor
Puritan-Bennett
Siemens