Jerome Sullivan, PhD, RRT, FAARC

The ICRC held its Annual Business Meeting November 9, 2015 in Tampa, Florida in conjunction with the largest respiratory care meeting in the world, The American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC) 61st International Congress and Exhibition. 135 Governors, organizational representatives, guests, International Fellows, and delegations representing 24 countries met in the day-long session to consider actions items, present annual reports, entertain special reports and to recognize international respiratory care clinical and educational award winners.

Early in the Agenda, the Toshihiko Koga, M.D. International Medal was awarded to Professor Lonny Ashworth, MEd, RRT, FAARC – long-time respiratory care educator and international faculty member of the Japanese Respiratory Care Network. Jerome M. Sullivan, PhD, RRT, FAARC, ICRC President, was recognized as the recipient of the Hector Leon Garza, M.D., International Achievement Award. As part of the program, the 2015 International Fellowship winners presented reports to the Council on the status of respiratory care in their home countries. This year’s class of respiratory professionals – brought the total since the program’s inception in 1990 – to 160 Fellow Awardees from 65 countries. The Fellows and their respective countries were: Houssain Jassim Khatam, RRT, Senior Respiratory Therapist, Bahrain, Peifeng Xu, RT, Hangzhou, China, Musa Muhtaroglu, PT, Cyprus, and Ramesh Unnikrishnan, RT, Assistant Professor, Mannipal, India.

In other action taken by the Council, Egypt was unanimously voted in as the newest Member Country of the ICRC, and three new Governors were elected to the Council. (See associated stories)

A special report was presented by Dr. Esther Brobbey, PhD, on “The Establishment of Ghana’s 1st Bachelor of Science Degree in Respiratory Therapy”. Dr. Brobbey’s PhD is in Pulmonary Drug Delivery and she will serve as the RT Program’s inaugural Director. In addition, Michael D. Davis, BS, RRT reported on “The End of the Ebola Outbreak in Liberia & the 1st RT Graduation Class in West Africa”.

In addition, the President and the Executive Director of the Latin American Respiratory Therapy Certification Board, representing 12 countries; the American Association for Respiratory Care representing over 51,000 members; and the National Board for Respiratory Care, presented updates on their organizations. Annual reports and developments in respiratory care education, credentialing and clinical practice were presented by Governors to the ICRC for the following countries: Mexico, Japan, Colombia, USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Italy, China, South Korea, Philippines, UAE, Taiwan, India, Argentina and Turkey. You can view the organizational reports, as well as the Fellow reports and the individual country updates by visiting the ICRC webpage.

The meeting was adjourned to be reconvened in conjunction with the AARC 62nd International Congress; scheduled for October 15-18, 2016 in San Antonio, Texas, USA. This is a special meeting, as it will mark the 25th Silver Anniversary of the establishment of the International Council for Respiratory Care.