About

Mr. Amato has been in the respiratory field for 42 years and has held numerous management and executive positions with several companies including DHD Medical Products, Monaghan Medical Corp., and his current company InspiRx Pharma where he is President & CEO. Mr Amato has also held numerous Committee and Foundation positions including ALA, FDA, AAN, AARC International Council, and ARCF where he serves as Chair and has held that position for over 25 years.

Mr. Amato has held the respiratory community as his way of giving back all the wonderful companies and people who have certainly helped to shape his career and the ARCF has been his love for over 25 years and is proud of the growth of the ARCF and its role in supporting the AARC and all of respiratory care.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Formerly a practicing respiratory therapist, Gary is also the former Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director of the NBRC. Mr. Smith is the former President of Applied Measurement Professionals, Inc. He was a member of the NBRC Board of Trustees from 1979-1983 and served as President of the NBRC in 1982 and 1983.

Gary is a former Chairman of the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) and President of the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). In addition to his duties at the NBRC, Gary has also held the position of Secretary/Treasurer of the American Respiratory Care Foundation.

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.

Mark Valentine is the president of The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, The Heart Hospital Baylor Denton, The Heart Hospital McKinney and Co-leader of the cardiovascular service line for Baylor Scott & White Health. Since January 2006, Valentine has been instrumental in growing and expanding the advanced services at The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano. As a result, the hospital is recognized as one of the top 10 largest heart surgery centers in the country, the largest cardiothoracic surgery program in Texas, and the busiest heart surgery center in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid recently named The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano a 5 Star Hospital in quality outcomes and service in consecutive years ranking the hospital in the top 5% nationally.

These achievements were accomplished while maintaining the highest quality scores and service scores recognized by both The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and Press Ganey® which has rated The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano in the top 1% nationally since opening in January 2007. Under Valentine’s leadership, the hospital has received numerous national awards and recognition.

Valentine’s proven ability to organize resources to bring a vision to fruition range from leading a strategic expansion into a new market to introducing new technology into his hospital’s environment. His sense of urgency creates an aggressive pace toward project completion and he continues to demonstrate his aptitude for fund-raising. An articulate executive, Valentine is adept at recognizing the talent his colleagues possess and giving them “the keys to the franchise” to make decisions and keep their departments on a successful course.

Valentine earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Allied Medicine from Ohio State University and a Master’s of Business Administration in Health Care Administration from Baker College in Michigan.

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.