About

Tonya Winders. MBA is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Allergy & Asthma Network, the leading patient advocacy organization dedicated to ending the needless death and suffering due to asthma, allergies and related conditions.

Tonya has over 17 years experience in leadership roles within the allergy and asthma industry. From sales and marketing leadership to managed markets access, she has worked tirelessly to ensure patients have access to effective diagnostic and treatment tools.

Tonya serves on several expert panels including the ATS Public Advisory Roundtable. Furthermore, she is on the board of directors for Not One More Life, American Respiratory Care Foundation and is the current president of the Global Allergy Asthma Patient Platform, representing 35 patient organizations throughout the world.

Personally, Tonya is the mother of five children, four of whom have asthma and/or allergies, ranging in age from 13-19 years old. She enjoys spending time with her husband of 21 years Brian Winders and cheering on her children in various sports.

Anthony L. “Tony” DeWitt is an attorney in active practice in Missouri. For thirteen years he was a practicing respiratory therapist and department head in various hospitals in the United States.  After seeing changes that affected the quality of care being given, he pursued a legal education with the aim of using his knowledge and skills to improve care.  He has been the recipient of the NAACP President’s Award, the Missouri Coalition for Quality Care Service Award, and the Missouri Bar’s Pro Bono Service Award. He is also a fellow of the American Association for Respiratory Care. Tony is a frequent lecturer on legal ethics and provides frequent education to health care professionals on medical negligence topics. As a member of the Board, Tony advises on issues that touch on legal concerns.

Joe has been working in healthcare for 34 years and has been a respiratory therapist for 32 of those years. He is an RRT and a Fellow of the American Association for Respiratory Care (FAARC). He holds undergraduate degrees in respiratory therapy and business administration and a master’s degree in healthcare administration. Joe has held numerous senior management and executive leadership positions in a variety of healthcare organizations and environments, including acute care, homecare, pharmacy, and most recently, medical device companies. He is a past AARC Homecare Section Chair and is past recipient of the ARCF award for excellence in homecare. Joe has served two terms on the AARC board of directors, including a term as Vice President of External Affairs.

Sam Giordano began his career in respiratory care over 50 years ago. He became a Registered Respiratory Therapist and worked in all capacities from staff therapist to director of respiratory services. Serving in that position at Barnes Hospital, (now BJC), in St. Louis, and Cook County Hospital in Chicago.

He then transitioned to the position of Director of Respiratory in Biomedical Services at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri.

He earned his undergraduate degree in health service administration from Park College, graduating Magna Cum Laude. He subsequently earned an MBA from University of Dallas.

Throughout his career he served as a volunteer with the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) on local, state, and national levels; he served on many committees, among which was the committee to assist in organizing local chapters into state societies. Sam was elected to AARC’s Board of Directors and other offices, including President. During his term at AARC, along with its members and state societies, he undertook a coordinated team effort to obtain legal recognition of the profession, via state licensure, throughout the United States.

At the end of this term Sam was offered the position of Executive Director/CEO of AARC. He served in that capacity for over 30 years, retiring in 2012.

Throughout his tenure, he also served as Publisher of Respiratory Care, assisting its outstanding Editors and editorial staff; a position he still holds today.

Sam also served as a Director of Brookhollow Bank of Dallas, and continues to serve as a volunteer patient advocate, as a Board member of the COPD Foundation, and current Chair of the US COPD Coalition.

He is a recipient of AARC’s highest honor, the Jimmy A. Young Medal, the Hector Leon Garza Award for Promoting International Excellence in International Respiratory Care, and Special Awards from the United States Air Force Cardiopulmonary Society, as well as a Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Contributions to the United States Army.

Sam is also proud to be an Eagle Scout with Bronze Palm.

Lynda T. Goodfellow is a tenured Professor of Respiratory Therapy and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs for the Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions at Georgia State University.  She joined the AARC in 1980 and her NBRC registry number is 18,675. Dr. Goodfellow received a baccalaureate degree in respiratory therapy from the Medical College of Georgia and her doctorate in Adult Education from the University of Georgia. At Georgia State University, she has served as the director of clinical education, and as chair of the respiratory therapy department. During her time as chair, the department implemented a master’s entry-degree for respiratory therapy in 2007. Since 1990 when she joined the RT faculty at Georgia State University, Dr. Goodfellow estimates that she has taught over 700 RT undergraduate students and over 300 graduate students.

Dr. Goodfellow’s areas of research include chronic respiratory disease management and education, particularly as it relates to asthma, tuberculosis, tobacco and e-cigarette abuse education, and graduate respiratory therapy education.  She received a clinical investigator award from the American Lung Association for support on asthma research for adolescents with asthma in the inner city and has been funded through the NIH as a member of the National Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium.  Her publications include articles in the Journal of Allied Health, Respiratory Care, Respiratory Care Education Annual, and other journals. Dr. Goodfellow has also served on the Board of Visitors for the College of Education at the University of Georgia.

Dr. Goodfellow would like to thank the profession of respiratory care for providing a career that has constantly challenged her to learn and to be a better respiratory therapist.  Moreover, she is especially thankful for her colleagues at Georgia State University, the Georgia Society for Respiratory Care, the AARC, the Lambda Beta Board, and now the American Respiratory Care Foundation.

In 1972 I graduated from college with a degree in chemistry and no idea what to do with it. I needed a job and a friend told me that the local hospital was hiring inhalation therapists. I went for an interview and was hired on the spot for a position as an on-the-job trainee to administer breathing treatments (mostly IPPB). The pay was poor, but I had few expenses and figured it would get me through until I could find something else. Interestingly, a few months later I got my first raise when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania raised the minimum wage! It did not take long until I was hooked and decided to enroll in a formal respiratory care program. This was a hospital-based program and as a strange coincidence, was in the same hospital where I was born 22 years earlier. I graduated in 18 months and the rest is history.

In addition to my clinical and research career, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to support the profession that has given so much to me. Late in the 20^th century, I had the opportunity to serve as a trustee on the NBRC, including two years as its President. More recently, I have served the AARC in leadership positions with the journal Respiratory Care. For 10 years I was Editor-in-Chief and now serve as the Managing Editor. I am proud to have been part of the Journal as it rose to prominence as a highly regarded international Journal publishing the science of respiratory care.

With this background, I am pleased to join the Board of Trustees of the ARCF. I am thrilled see the word “research” in the mission statement for the Foundation. To be respected as a profession, we must assume responsibility for the evidence supporting our practice. There are too few respiratory therapists with the necessary training and funding to support independent investigation.

I have been the recipient of ARCF awards, including the Forrest M. Bird, MD, PhD, ScD Lifetime Scientific Achievement Award in 1999. I have also appreciated that the ARCF has supported the Respiratory Care Journal Conferences for many years. Serving on the Board of Trustees is my opportunity to give back. I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

Dr MacIntyre is a Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of Respiratory Care Services at Duke University. In his 31 year career, he has been principal investigator or co-principal investigator on over 37 clinical trials that have enrolled hundreds of patients. Among the most important of these have been the NIH funded ARDS Network evaluating many aspects of respiratory failure, the National Emphysema Treatment Trial (NETT) evaluating lung volume reduction surgery for emphysema and the Long Term Oxygen Treatment Trial (LOTT) evaluating oxygen therapy in COPD patients. He has held a number of national and international leadership positions, including the chair of the large ACCP/SCCM/AARC Evidence Based Guidelines Committee for Ventilator Weaning, the chair of the joint ATS/ERS Committee to Standardize DLCO, the chair of the ACCP Mechanical Ventilation Simulation Program, and on the steering/writing committees of ATS and AACVPR addressing pulmonary rehabilitation and exercise assessment. Within the respiratory care community, he has been on BOMA for two separate terms, an associate editor of Respiratory Care, and a long time trustee of ARCF.

Bruce Rubin is the Jessie Ball duPont Distinguished Professor and Chair of Pediatrics at Virginia Commonwealth University and Physician in Chief of the Children’s Hospital of Richmond. He is also Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Physiology and Biophysics at VCU and has been named a Virginia Eminent Scholar by the Governor. He trained in Biomedical Engineering at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and then did a fellowship in Paediatric Respirology and Critical Care at Sick Kids in Toronto. He holds the MD and Masters in Engineering degrees from Tulane and an MBA degree from Wake Forest University Babcock School of Business

Prof. Rubin received Lifetime Scientific Achievement Awards from the AARC and CIPP. He holds honorary appointments in 4 medical schools, is on the editorial board of 11 pulmonary journals, has published more than 300 original research papers and chapters, and holds eight patents. He is on the Board of the NIH funded Atlantic Pediatric Device Consortium. His research focus is regulation of mucus clearance in health and disease, airway inflammation, and aerosol delivery of medications.

Dr. Rubin is also a magician, elected to membership in the International Brotherhood of Magicians and over the past 20 years has taught medical magic in 31 countries on 5 continents.

James K. Stoller, M.D., M.S., FCCP, ATSF, FAARC is a pulmonary/critical care physician who serves as Chairman of the Education Institute at Cleveland Clinic. He holds the Jean Wall Bennett Professorship in Emphysema Research at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine and the Samson Global Leadership Academy Endowed Chair at Cleveland Clinic. Dr. Stoller has had longstanding involvement in respiratory care as he served as the Section Head of Respiratory Care at Cleveland Clinic from 1988 to 2008 and as Director of the Respiratory Special Care Unit (ReSCU). A major focus of his work in respiratory care has been optimizing care delivery, especially through the implementation of respiratory care protocols. He has had longstanding clinical and scientific interest in emphysema and in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, having authored 310 peer-reviewed papers and served as an Editor of Egan’s Fundamentals of Respiratory Care over the last 6 editions. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Alpha-1 Foundation and has served on the Board of Directors of the COPD Foundation, as a member of BOMA as the ATS representative.

Terry Volsko is the Director of Respiratory Care, Transport and the Communication Center and Interim Administrative Director of Operations of the Rebecca D Considine Research Institute. She serves the profession of Respiratory Care as a trustee for the NBRC, a board member for Lambda Beta Society, the editorial board for RC Journal and the Evidence Based Clinical Practice Guidelines Committee for the AARC. Terry has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, and 2 textbooks.

As a respiratory therapist for more than three decades, I lead initiatives which supported research, education and philanthropic activities, enabling respiratory therapists to develop professionally, educate our community about pulmonary diseases and successfully raise funds for charitable endeavors. As a Trustee, I am able to direct my energy and talents in a way which will serve the profession and respiratory care community on a much broader level.