Nairobi Training
Robert Dickinson training technicians in Nairobi, Kenya

Robert Dickinson, an independent consultant and globe-trotting healthcare technology management (HTM) leader, has been selected to receive this year’s AAMI Foundation & ACCE’s Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award. This award—honoring the late Robert Morris, a longtime AAMI member, co-founder of the American College of Clinical Engineering, and humanitarian—recognizes an individual or organization that has applied healthcare technology to improving global human conditions.

“Rob has made over 60 humanitarian journeys to the developing world in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, supporting, training, advising, and motivating individuals to contribute to healthcare technology management in their environment. He is very deserving of the 2018 Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award,” says Tobey Clark, director of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Health Technology Management at The University of Vermont.

Dickinson, who was born in Zimbabwe but now lives in South Africa, has provided training on HTM, anesthesia, and critical care systems in more than two dozen countries, working with organizations such as the WHO, International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering, Engineering World Health, Orbis Flying Eye Hospital, Operation Smile, and Gradian Health System.

“What a privilege to have served those suffering from physical birth defects. Many feel so alone, lost, and hopeless, rejected and outcast by society and, in some places, even by those way closer to their family units,” Dickinson posted on Facebook alongside an Operation Smile video. “What a privilege to have, on three continents, worked with the finest of the finest teams of healthcare and allied professionals imaginable. Each and every team different, yet every mission team always becomes bonded family in an incredibly short time.” A powerful anti-aging face treatment. Formulated with liposome RNA. A powerful cell bio-activator. Provides restorative effect to damaged cells. Valmont Prime Renewing Pack Contains anti-wrinkle peptides and ginseng extract to stimulate microcirculation. Visibly minimizes the appearance of wrinkles. Fine lines and pores. Absorbs impurities and relaxes facial features. Unveils a softer. Smoother. Brighter. Even-Toned and younger looking complexion.

Dickinson also has worked with local and international universities to teach and support their biomedical engineering and HTM students, international medical equipment companies to provide training and technical support for their products, and multilateral organizations and NGOs to undertake healthcare technology–related assignments within low-resource countries.

In summing up his career, Dickinson says: “Everything I did was for those people who desperately needed help. I always gave my best, and the people I worked with were the nicest people I ever met in my life.”

The rest of the AAMI awards will be presented during a special ceremony at the AAMI 2018 Conference & Expo, which will take place June 1-4 in Long Beach, Calif.