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ARRT Honors Three in 2021 I Am The Gold Standard Program

Published on Dec 13, 2021

For Immediate Release
Contact:  ARRT Strategic Communications
651.687.0048
communications@arrt.org

(Dec. 13, 2021) — The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) is pleased to announce this year’s honorees in our I Am the Gold Standard program. They are:

  • Jason Lee, R.R.A., R.T.(R)(CT)(ARRT), RPA
  • Roberto Juan Telleria, R.T.(R)(CV)(CT)(ARRT)
  • Rachel Ward, R.T.(T)(ARRT)

We’ve sponsored the I Am the Gold Standard awards since 2016 to recognize Registered Technologists who excel in their profession. Nominees must meet criteria in one or more of the following categories: Quality and Safety; Patient Experience; Advocating for the Profession.

Jason Lee is a Radiologist Assistant at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he specializes in pediatric care, and an X-Ray Technologist, PRN, at Medstar Health, both in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition to his paid employment, he volunteers with RAD-AID, an organization that strives to improve access to medical imaging across the globe. Closer to home, Lee gives presentations through the Maryland Society of Radiology Technologists and other organizations. He writes articles that serve as continuing education options for health-care professionals and volunteers in other areas that support the profession.

Roberto Juan Telleria is an Interventional Radiographer IV at Baptist Hospital of South Florida in Miami, Florida. During more than 40 years in interventional radiology, he has focused on caring for people who experience emergencies, such as strokes and gastrointestinal bleeding, and need urgent interventions. Outside of work, he gives lectures on stroke and volunteers an at annual stroke fair. When he noticed that interventional radiology wasn’t part of students’ clinical rotations at Miami Dade College Medical Campus, Telleria spearheaded adding the field to the curriculum.

Rachel Ward is a Radiation Therapist at Ulmer Dermatology in Long Beach, California, where she uses superficial radiation therapy (SRT) to treat skin cancer. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she saw an opportunity to advocate for SRT on social media. She launched @rachthertt on Instagram to talk about skin cancer treatment and radiation therapy education. Since October 2020, Ward has built @rachthertt to more than 5,000 followers.

A committee of R.T.s on staff at ARRT select I Am the Gold Standard winners. Lee, Telleria, and Ward will receive airfare, hotel, and conference registration for a national society conference of their choice in the continental U.S. The honor goes to three Registered Technologists (R.T.s) who meet one or more of the following criteria:

  • Quality and Safety: They’ve led or significantly contributed to research that measurably improves patient care.
  • Patient Experience: They’ve consistently provided stellar patient experiences that exceed expectations, and/or they’ve led patient experience efforts that resulted in measurable improvements.
  • Advocating for the Profession: They’ve shown a substantial commitment to the profession by leading a volunteer effort or by achieving significant accomplishments while volunteering.

About ARRT

ARRT promotes high standards of patient care by recognizing qualified individuals in medical imaging, interventional procedures, and radiation therapy. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota, ARRT evaluates, certifies and annually registers approximately 350,000 radiologic technologists across the United States.