SU's Joyner Named President of National Board for Respiratory Care

SALISBURY, MD---Dr. Robert Joyner, associate dean of Salisbury University’s Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology, has been named president of the National Board for Respiratory Care, Inc. (NBRC).

The NBRC provides high-quality voluntary credentialing examinations nationally for practitioners of respiratory therapy and pulmonary function technology. Joyner has served on its 31-member board of trustees since 2013.

“Bob is an extremely knowledgeable healthcare professional,” said Gary Smith, CEO and executive director of the Kansas-based organization. “His involvement in the examination development process has been critical to the advancement of the high quality of the respiratory care credentialing system and we are thrilled to have his leadership as the 2016 president.”

Smith added: “Through Bob’s service on the NBRC, he has positively impacted job-related competency assessment for the respiratory care profession.  The talent and skills that he brings to the NBRC are valued by our organization.”

Joyner earned a B.S. in respiratory therapy from SU in 1991 and a Ph.D. in cardiovascular physiology from Dartmouth Medical School in 1998. He returned to join SU’s respiratory therapy faculty that year and became program director in 2003. He was named associate dean in 2011.

“I found respiratory care by chance in 1988 and fell in love with the ability of a respiratory therapist to make a difference in a critically ill patient’s life,” Joyner said. “I know of no other health care profession that in a single workday has the privilege of being present to assist in the delivery of a high risk newborn in one instant, and be at a patient’s bedside to provide comfort at the end of their life in another. It’s not for everyone, but for those who enjoy responsibility and want an intense job, respiratory care is an emotional rollercoaster.  My role as the president of the NBRC is to continue to assure that a respiratory therapist will always be available to help patients who — in a way that people who haven’t experienced it can only imagine — are short of breath.”

A licensed respiratory care practitioner, Joyner has published in Respiratory Care (the official science journal of the American Association for Respiratory Care) and the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“It is an honor for a Salisbury University faculty member and administrator to be selected to lead a national organization like the NBRC,” said Dr. Karen Olmstead, dean of the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology. “We are proud of Bob’s commitment to his profession.  His appointment is a testament to his leadership and expertise in respiratory care, demonstrated on campus and across the State of Maryland.”

Created in 1960 to evaluate the professional competence of respiratory therapists, the NBRC currently tests nearly 40,000 candidates annually, and its credentialing exams are the standard for licensure across the U.S.

For more information, call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.