For Immediate Release
Contact: ARRT Strategic Communications
651.687.0048
communications@arrt.org
(June 29, 2023) — The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) is pleased to announce the four Registered Technologists (R.T.s) who earned honors in this year’s I Am the Gold Standard program. They are:
- LuAnn Daniel, R.T.(R)(M)(CT)(ARRT)
- Diane Forbes, R.R.A., R.T.(R)(VI)(ARRT), RDMS
- Felix Zuniga Infante III, R.T.(R)(ARRT)
- Jennifer Thompson, Ed.D., R.T.(R)(QM)(ARRT)
About the Honorees
LuAnn Daniel is the founder and director of Women Rock, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Sherman, Texas. Women Rock provides uninsured and underinsured women with access to early detection of and treatment for breast cancer. Founded with $1,200 out of Daniel’s pocket, the organization today has a budget of more than $700,000 and serves women in 18 Texas and Oklahoma counties. Daniel’s career in diagnostic imaging spans more than three decades.
Diane Forbes is an interventional radiology clinical specialist at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2019, she traveled to Tanzania to help train the first interventional radiology technologists and physicians in the country. Since then, she’s conducted weekend training sessions via Zoom with Tanzanian technologists. Forbes serves on the Association of Vascular and Interventional Radiographers (AVIR) Board of Directors and received an AVIR fellowship earlier this year.
Felix Zuniga Infante III is a diagnostic radiology technologist for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) at the VA Wilmington Healthcare System in Wilmington, Delaware. He served for 30 years in the U.S. Army, including time with the 21st Combat Support Hospital providing radiology exams in a combat zone. He was instrumental in relocating a 28-bed hospital in a hostile environment with no loss of critical patient-care capabilities. After retiring from the Army, he took on his current role.
Jennifer Thompson is a program director and professor at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. She has supported state licensure for technologists since 2016 and began serving on the Tennessee Radiologic Imaging and Radiation Therapy Board in 2019. When Tennessee considered a bill earlier this year that would eliminate most licensure requirements, Thompson involved her students in a grass-roots campaign that involved social media, podcasts, testifying at state hearings, phone calls, and knocking on state legislators’ doors. Although Tennessee ultimately passed the bill, Thompson’s advocacy efforts were considerable.
LuAnn Daniel, R.T.(R)(M)(CT)(ARRT)
Diane Forbes, R.R.A., R.T.(R)(VI)(ARRT), RDMS
Felix Zuniga Infante III, R.T.(R)(ARRT)
Jennifer Thompson, Ed.D., R.T.(R)(QM)(ARRT)
About the Awards Program
A committee of R.T.s on staff at ARRT select the I Am the Gold Standard winners. The four will receive airfare, hotel and conference registration for a national society conference of their choice in the continental U.S. Each year, the honor goes to 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
The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists 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.