(McLean, Virginia) – January 29, 2009 — Janice East, RPSGT, R. EEG T., has been named President-Elect of the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists (BRPT). Her term will begin January 2010. East has been a member of the BRPT Board since 2006. She was recently presented with the Shining Star Award by President Becky Appenzeller, RPSGT, R. EEG T., CNIM, for her dedication and ongoing commitment to the organization. East is the Director of Sleep Disorders, Rehabilitation and Neurodiagnostics for Morton Plant Mease Health Care, Clearwater, FL. She received the 2005 President’s Award from the Southern Society of Electroneurodiagnostic Technologists.
Becky Appenzeller continues as BRPT President through December 2009, when her two-year term ends. After her term, Appenzeller will continue to serve on the Board as Immediate Past President. A 30-year veteran of the neurodiagnostics and sleep field, Appenzeller is currently Supervisor for the Sleep Disorders Center and Neurodiagnostic Department at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center in LaCrosse, WI.
BRPT Board member Michael Brennen, RPSGT, Coordinator for the Southeast Idaho Sleep Disorders Center at the Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, ID, will serve as Treasurer. Brennen has been a BRPT Board member since 2006. He has served as chair of the BRPT Legislative Committee and continues as chair of the BRPT Professional Discipline Committee.
The change in Board leadership became effective in January 2009, but an official installation will take place at a BRPT Board meeting in McLean, VA on March 8, 2009. East and Brennen will be joined by four new Board members: Daniel Mobley, RPSGT, Midwest City, OK; Charmaine Brown, BS, RPSGT, CCRP, Houston, TX; Susan K. Hanson, RPSGT, CRT, Bettendorf, IA; and Public Member, Dave Hargett, Bolingbrook, IL.
BRPT Board member Melissa Akali, R. EEG T., RPSGT, Total Sleep Diagnostics, Mableton, GA will continue to serve as Secretary. Other continuing Board members of the BRPT include: Charles Atwood, MD, University of Pittsburg Medical Center, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA; Donna Arand, PhD, Kettering Medical Center Sleep Disorders Center, Kettering, OH; Andrea Clark, MSW, RPSGT, Sleep Management Centers, Ft. Meyers, FL and Roger Godbout, RPSGT, PhD, Université ode Montreal, Sleep Laboratory and Clinic Hôpital Rivière-des-Prairies, Montréal (Québec).
The BRPT is currently comprised of a 12-member board, all of whom serve four-year terms. Of the 12 members, 11 are credentialed by either the BRPT, or the American Board of Sleep Medicine. In addition, the Board appoints at least one public member.
The RPSGT is respected worldwide as the leading credential for polysomnographic technologists. 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 exam during four, two-week testing windows each year throughout the United States and internationally, the BRPT also maintains the RPSGT registry. For more information, call (703) 610-9020, or visit www.brpt.org.
Janice East, RPSGT, R. EEG T.
Current Board member and now President-Elect
Janice East is the Director of Sleep Disorders, Rehabilitation and Neurodiagnostics for Morton Plant Mease Health Care. She has been employed at this facility for more than 20 years and opened the sleep disorders center in 1987. Along with being credentialed in polysomnographic technology, East also holds a registry in EEG (R. EEG T.). East recently served as Chairman of BRPT’s Application Review Committee and served on the Professional Discipline Committee until 2009. She currently participates on the Exam Development Committee. In 2008, East was awarded BRPT’s Shining Star Award for her outstanding contribution to the organization. A recipient of the 2005 President’s Award for the Southern Society of Electroneurodiagnostics Technologists, East is an active member of the group’s national organization, ASET.
Mike Brennen, RPSGT
Current Board member and now Treasurer
Mike Brennen is presently the Coordinator for the Southeast Idaho Sleep Disorders Center at the Portneuf Medical Center in Pocatello, Idaho. He entered the sleep field in 1979 and became registered in 1984. From 2002 through 2005, Brennen served on the Legislative Action Committee for the American Association of Sleep Technologists (formerly APT), monitoring legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting the field of polysomnographic technology. He currently serves as a Director for the BRPT and has served as an examiner for the practical component of the registry exam over the years. In 2004, Brennen was recognized by the BRPT for his contributions to the exam process.
Charmaine Brown, BS, RPSGT, CCRP
New Board member
Charmaine Brown has more than 20 years experience in polysomnography. She is currently a Clinical Research Coordinator for Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. She also works independently as a PSG scoring technologist. Prior to working at Baylor, she was the Director of Technical Services/Senior Sleep Technologist at Sleep Medicine Associates of Texas in Plano. She is a member of the American Association of Sleep Technologists and the Society of Clinical Research Associates and was recently credentialed as a Certified Clinical Research Professional
Susan K. Hanson, RPSGT, CRT
New Board member
Susan Hanson has been a polysomnographic technologist for more than 20 years. She currently serves as the coordinator of the Sleep Clinic at Genesis Medical Center in Davenport, IA. She earned a B.A. in education from Central College in Pella, IA. Hanson earned her respiratory credential at California College of Respiratory Therapy and completed her sleep training at Stanford University. She is a member of the American Association of Sleep Technologists, the Association for the Study of Dreams, and the Quad City Health Initiative. She is a member and frequent presenter at the Central Society of Electroneurodiagnostic Technologists and the Iowa Association of Electroneurodiagnostic Technologists.
Daniel Mobley, RPSGT
New Board member
Daniel Mobley is currently a lead polysomnographic technologist at The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, OK, in addition to serving sleep patients at the Sleep Centers of America in Norman, OK. Prior to moving to the Midwest, Mobley was a sleep technologist at several Boston, MA facilities including Newton-Wellesley Hospital, Children’s Hospital Boston, and Tufts-New England Medical Center. Polysomnography is a second career for Mobley, who was previously an information technology professional, responsible for corporate training and full-scale project management of a worldwide computer network and resource planning system.
Dave Hargett
Director – Public Member
Diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea in 1994, Dave Hargett’s sleep apnea is successfully treated with CPAP therapy. Hargett began attending a local A.W.A.K.E. group in 1995 and now coordinates two sleep apnea support groups affiliated with the A.W.A.K.E. Network of the American Sleep Apnea Association (ASAA). In 2002, he joined the Board of Directors of the ASAA and has served as Chairman since 2004. In addition to being the Apnea Patient Speaker at the Great American Sleep Walk in Washington DC and a frequent presenter at AAST annual meetings, Hargett helped launch www.talkaboutsleep.com, regularly speaks to community groups about sleep apnea and sleep disorders, and has been interviewed on radio, internet radio, local cable television, and in print media. After a 30-year career with Sears, Hargett is a sleep advocate and volunteer, and serves his community of Bolingbrook, Illinois as an elected Trustee of the Fountaindale Public Library.