Three New Board Members Elected; Helen Driver Receives ‘Shining Star’ Award
McLean, Virginia – January 12, 2015 – The Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (BRPT) named Daniel D. Lane, RPSGT, CCSH, President-Elect of the Board of Directors. His two-year term as President will begin in January 2016. Lane has been a member of the BRPT Board since 2011 serving as Treasurer, the coordinator of the STAR Program and he is also an active member of the BRPT Exam Development Committee. Lane is currently the president of Arkona Sleep Management in Long Beach, California.
“By electing Daniel to the position of President-Elect, the Board expressed its confidence and support for Daniel and I’m delighted with the outcome,” said BRPT President Theresa Krupski, RPSGT, RRT. “He has been involved in almost every aspect of the organization – from Treasurer, to a key player on the exam development team, to his extensive work on our education programs. Daniel is well-positioned to lead the organization in 2016.”
“I’m very excited and honored to serve as BRPT’s next President,” said Daniel D. Lane, RPSGT, CCSH. “I’ve learned a tremendous amount from Theresa and the other Board members. It’s a privilege to work with this organization and its committed team of volunteers to develop new credentials for the field, expand educational offerings and resources, and to partner with other industry leaders to make the sleep health profession the best it can be.”
Current Board member Helen Driver, PhD, RPSGT, CCSH, DABSM, Somnologist, received the BRPT President’s Shining Star Award in November 2014 for her dedication and outstanding service to the organization. Said Krupski, “In addition to keeping Board members up to date on international issues affecting our field, Helen worked tirelessly on a number of projects including enhancing exam prep resources and revamping our Board orientation manual, which facilitates the onboarding process for new Board members.”
The change in Board leadership takes effect this month, but an official installation will take place at a BRPT Board meeting in McLean, VA on March 21, 2015.
New Board Member Biographies
Bernie Chalmers, MA Director – Public Member
Bernie Chalmers obtained an MA (cum laude) in psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. In addition to starting three boutique consultancies he was part owner of the largest Human Resource consulting business in Southern Africa. He specialized in organization development with a focus on affirmative action and conflict management. He moved to Canada in 1991 and has worked as President or Managing Director in multinational companies based in the UK and Canada. Currently he is semi-retired and his management consulting company, BEREV Ltd., works with companies in the US and
Canada. He served as President and remains an Honorary Fellow of what is now the Institute of People Management (South Africa). He also served on the Council of the South African Psychological Association.
Vikas Jain, MD Director
Vikas Jain is a sleep medicine physician and medical director of two sleep laboratories in Oklahoma City, OK. He also serves as an Adjunct Clinical Instructor for Stanford University’s Sleep Medicine program as well as a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. He is Board Certified in sleep medicine and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In addition to his passion for sleep medicine, Dr. Jain has a clinical interest in health informatics and currently serves on the AASM EHR Integration Task Force. He has authored various articles and chapters and has been a speaker at several state sleep societies. He is an active member of the BRPT Exam Development Committee and CCSH Task Force.
Wendy Krout, RPSGT Director
Wendy Krout has been in the sleep diagnostic field for 19 years and has been registered since 1997. She also has an Associates Degree in respiratory therapy. Wendy is currently the Mid West / East Coast Diagnostic Senior Sales Consultant for CareFusion. Her past experience and background in the sleep diagnostic field includes training and consulting physicians and technologists, managing the sleep center for Ephrata Community Hospital in Lancaster, PA, Lead Technologist for Tenet Healthcare in El Paso, TX and Night Supervisor for Scottsdale Healthcare in Scottsdale, AZ. Most recently she received the 2014 Clinical Specialist of the Year award from her current employer.
Continuing Members of The Board
BRPT Board member Donna Arand, PhD, of the Sleep Disorders Center at Kettering Hospital in Dayton, OH serves as Secretary. Other continuing Board members of the BRPT include: Charles Atwood, MD, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA; Helen Driver, PhD, RPSGT, CCSH, DABSM, Somnologist, Sleep Disorders Lab, Kingston General Hospital and Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada; Deb Kovacs-Sturdevant, RPSGT, RRT, Mercy Health Anderson Hospital, Cincinnati, OH; Daniel Mobley, RPSGT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA; Jessica Schmidt, RPSGT, RST, Sleep Disorders Center at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC. Biographies of all BRPT Board members can be found at brpt.taupecatstudios.dev.
The BRPT Board of Directors is comprised of volunteer members, all of whom serve four-year terms. The Board is international in scope and blends the expertise of the sleep community representing the interests of the consumer, patients, educators, and sleep technologists.
The BRPT develops and administers credentialing exams for polysomnographic technologists and technicians. The RPSGT is respected worldwide as the leading credential for polysomnographic technologists. Since the first credentialing exam administration in 1979, BRPT has credentialed more than 20,000 RPSGTs worldwide. In 2012, BRPT launched its Clinical Sleep Educator (CSE) Program, offering an assessment-based certificate to qualifying individuals. In May 2014, BRPT launched the Certification In Clinical Sleep Health (CCSH) examination for healthcare providers specializing in sleep medicine who work directly with sleep medicine patients, families and practitioners for patient care management, improved outcomes, and sleep health education and advocacy for patients and the community.
Headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the BRPT is an independent, non-profit certification board that cultivates the highest professional and ethical standards for polysomnographic technologists. In addition to administering the RPSGT, CPSGT, and CCSH exams in the United States and internationally, the BRPT also maintains the RPSGT registry and CPSGT roster. The BRPT also provides its Continuing Sleep Technology Education (CSTE) Program for educational providers seeking continuing education credits for their offerings. For more information, please visit brpt.taupecatstudios.dev.
This month, the BRPT reached an important milestone awarding RPSGT #20,000. Since awarding the first RPSGT credential in 1979, the field of sleep technology has grown a tremendous amount and has established itself as an integral component of sleep medicine. Sleep disorders are more widely recognized and understood by the general public; use of technology and treatment options have expanded and so too has the role of the sleep technologist. It’s an exciting time for the profession and BRPT sat down with one of its newest RPSGTs: RPSGT 20,000 Lucila San Jose from Garrett Park, Maryland who recently completed Montgomery College’s CAAHEP program before sitting for and passing the RPSGT exam in September.