The AHRA Gold Award is the highest honor AHRA can bestow upon one of its members. The award is given to an AHRA member who has made significant contributions to the association and, thus, to the profession of imaging and health care administration. Nominations for the Gold Award come from the membership and any member may nominate a candidate. All members of AHRA are eligible to be considered for the award.

Debra A Lopez, CRA, FAHRA was the 2012 recipient of the AHRA Gold Award. Deb was most recently the director of imaging services at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, CA. She has been working in the imaging field for 37 years and, now retired, continues to provide consulting services.

Deb has been an active member of the AHRA since 1987, earning her CRA in 2002 and achieving Fellow status in 2003. She received the Amersham Award for Excellence in 2002. Deb began her AHRA volunteer career presenting “Real Life Experiences with PACS” at the 1997 Annual Meeting and never looked back. In 1999, Deb gave two additional presentations on PACS. She has also published an article in the journal Radiology Management and authored a chapter in the book “Human Resource Management in Radiology.”
Deb’s commitment to not only the association, but also to advancing the profession is obvious. She has been a staple of the AHRA Leadership Institute, presenting on the “Art of Negotiation” and “Developing & Implementing Operational & Regulatory Procedures.” She was part of the 2002 Member Recognition Team before serving two terms on the Electronic Imaging Conference Team.

Deb served as a director on the AHRA board from= 2004-2008, and the Education Foundation board from 2008-2011. In 2008, she was voted president-elect and served as president in 2009-2010. Throughout her time on the board, Deb worked with the Curriculum Committee, the Product Development Committee, both the AHRA and Education Foundation Finance Committees, the Executive Committee, and was a Foundation Partner Initiative volunteer. As past-president, Deb served as the chair of the Nominations Committee and was asked to join the committee again in 2012. Deb was part of the Strategic Planning Committee that helped shaped the AHRA strategic plan in place today.

American College of Cardiology
Lifetime Achievement Award
The American College of Cardiology Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an individual who has had a lifetime of outstanding achievements in the field of cardiovascular disease and has served as a role model through service, basic or clinical research and teaching. The recipient of this award must have a career spanning at least 30 years.

December 2012 Magazine

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