What are the qualities that make a good leader?  Leaders don’t always have to be chief executives or have big titles. Real leaders know what a person can accomplish when they don’t care who gets the credit.  Real leaders know how to go deep within and demonstrate their toughness of spirit to fulfill a purpose.

Leaders have purpose, a mission, a vision, extraordinary integrity and persistence.  Leaders understand the only way to fail is to quit.

The Brava Medical team made the easy decision to launch our “Leaders in the News” segment with a feature story on Joan Baker, MSR, RDMS, RDCS FSDMS and President Sound Ergonomics, whose invaluable impact on the field of diagnostic ultrasound is without parallel.

In 1965 Joan came to the United States from England to open the department of ultrasound at Stanford Medical Center, and for the past 43 years has been a revered leader in her field, having touched the lives of hundreds and probably thousands of sonographers, as both an educator and in her current role as President of Sound Ergonomics, a company designed to educate and protect Sonographers from musculoskeletal injuries.

She was the co-founder and first president of Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography {SDMS- 1970-1971} and founder and first chair of the American Registry Diagnostic Medical Sonography. (ARDMS) She was chair of the Joint Review Committee Diagnostic Medical Sonography (JRC DMS).   More recently she was president of SDMS from 1997-1999. She has specialized in ergonomics since 1995 and the impact of WRMSD on sonographers. Joan testified to OSHA on ergonomic standards in the Clinton and Bush administrations and chaired the SDMS International Consensus Conference on Occupational Injury in Sonography May 2003. She was awarded the SDMS educator's award and the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) sonographer of the year award 2003.

Today, Joan is as busy and forward thinking as ever and continues to multi task even while tending her grandson. Her willingness to get the job done, no matter what the job happens to be, continues to earn her the respect and awe of everyone who has ever worked with her. Does she have boundless energy?   No.   She simply has the fierce determination to reach out to help and lead as many sonographers as she possibly can against work related injuries, always going forward, always finding those creative solutions to everyday problems.

www.soundergonomics.com

 Next Month’s “Leaders in the News” will feature an interview with the prominent  Edward G. Grant, MD, FACR Professor and Chair Department of Radiology, School of Medicine USC. Dr. Grant a pioneer in medical diagnostic imaging advancements and a renowned educationalist in MR, CT, PET and Ultrasound, shares his thoughts with Brava Medical on reimbursement, the state of the imaging industry and particularly, what he anticipates from medical manufacturers.