The 2026 honorees include HTM professionals recognized for leadership, cybersecurity, humanitarian work, mentorship, and advancing patient safety across healthcare technology management.
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and the AAMI Foundation have announced the recipients of their 2026 awards, recognizing contributions across the healthcare technology management (HTM) field, including cybersecurity, humanitarian efforts, leadership, and service to the AAMI community.
The awards will be conferred on stage at the 2026 AAMI eXchange in Denver, Colorado.
AAMI Foundation John D. Hughes HTM Leadership Award, sponsored by TRIMEDX
The winner of the 2026 AAMI Foundation John D. Hughes HTM Leadership Honors Award, sponsored by TRIMEDX, is Henry “Hank” Stankiewicz, Jr, CCE, FACCE, senior technical consultant at Sigma Health Consulting.
Over more than five decades, Stankiewicz has helped to transform the HTM field through leadership, commitment to patient safety, and dedication to fostering the next generation. While at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, he pioneered the agency’s HTM regional consolidation and cross-facility support model across eight New England medical centers and served at both the VA headquarters and regional level.
A well-known thought leader within the AAMI community, Stankiewicz has also been recognized with ACCE’s Lifetime Achievement Award, elected as a Fellow Clinical Engineer, and twice named as VA Outstanding Biomedical Engineer. His mentorship through VA’s Technical Career Field program has shaped HTM leaders now directing programs at medical centers and regional networks nationwide.
“I am honored to receive this award from my peers. I share this recognition with my Sigma and VA colleagues. Thanks to my family, especially my wife, who understands my vocation,” says Stankiewicz in a release.
AAMI Foundation & ACCE Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award
The winner of the AAMI Foundation & ACCE Robert L. Morris Humanitarian Award is Lúcio Flávio de Magalhães Brito, a mechanical engineer and certified clinical engineer with more than 35 years of experience advancing patient safety and healthcare technology across the globe.
Throughout his career, he has applied evidence-based engineering principles to strengthen clinical infrastructure in 19 countries, with field missions spanning Guyana, Peru, El Salvador, and the eastern Caribbean. A professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and international consultant for the Pan-American Health Organization, WHO, and the Inter-American Development Bank, he played a pivotal role in providing actionable solutions during the COVID-19 oxygen crisis of 2021 in Manaus, Brazil.
In his own words: “Sound engineering is the essential foundation for patient safety everywhere, especially in underserved regions.”
He says in a release, “Receiving this award is a profound honor, as it connects me to the legacy of Robert L. Morris and the esteemed community of mentors who shaped my journey since 1987 … I am humbled to follow in their footsteps, remaining committed to improving global human conditions through healthcare technology.”
AAMI BMET of the Year Award, sponsored by GE Healthcare
Jun Yoshioka, PhD, clinical engineer at Japanese Red Cross Sendai Hospital, was named the 2026 AAMI BMET of the Year Award, sponsored by GE Healthcare.
Yoshioka has spent more than 25 years advancing the clinical engineering profession in Japan and abroad. As the first clinical engineer hired at Yamagata University Hospital, he built its clinical engineering department from the ground up and centralized management of more than 1,500 devices. He currently leads a team of 15 clinical engineers in Sendai and has helped establish a clinical engineering diploma program in Myanmar.
A prolific innovator, Yoshioka holds multiple patents for several medical device inventions and is the developer of VOLT BANK, a battery management system that prevents overcharge degradation and standardizes hospital charging infrastructure. Among his achievements are several world firsts, including a waterless infusion pump tester, a pump tester for deep vein thrombosis prophylaxis devices, and a Wi-Fi-enabled infusion pump.
An AAMI member since 2014, Yoshioka has earned multiple awards from the Japan Association for Clinical Engineers and the Japanese Society of Medical Instrumentation for his professional achievements and publications.
“I am deeply honored to receive this award from AAMI. It recognizes the vital role clinical engineers play in bridging advanced technology and patient care, and I hope this honor inspires global collaboration to further enhance patient safety and quality of life,” he says in a release.
Spirit of AAMI Award
Maggie Berkey, CBET, a biomedical equipment technician with BioElectronics, a subsidiary of the Nebraska Hospital Association, is the recipient of the 2026 Spirit of AAMI Award.
Berkey began her HTM career at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in 2010 and has since served in roles spanning technician, supervisor, instructor, and mentor. She was named AAMI and GE Healthcare’s 2021 BMET of the Year and previously served as an instructor at St Cloud Technical and Community College, where she impacted more than 50 students per semester.
Her volunteer contributions to AAMI are extensive. As co-chair of the AAMI Alternate Equipment Management (AEM) Committee, she has helped develop ANSI/AAMI EQ103 and is leading the production of a Technical Information Report to guide the HTM community on effective AEM programs. She was also the driving force behind the AAMI HTM Apprenticeship Program—winning the inaugural AAMI Shark Tank competition in 2019 with the concept—which launched in 2022 and now boasts a 94% placement rate for graduates. She also serves on the BI&T Editorial Board and has served as past president of the North Central Biomed Association.
“This award means more than words can explain…It is a validation of many jobs well done despite the challenges that were faced along the way,” Berkey says in a release. “I am extraordinarily proud.”
AAMI Young Professional Award
Attrayee Chakraborty, recently promoted to senior quality systems engineer at Analog Devices Inc, is the recipient of the 2026 AAMI Young Professional Award.
Chakraborty is an emerging leader in medical device quality and AI regulation. Her peer-reviewed research on global AI governance across 14 jurisdictions has been cited by scientists at Google Research and IBM Research and presented to regulators at the FDA, EMA, and Swissmedic. She has delivered more than 30 national and international conference presentations and has received awards from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS) and the American Society for Quality.
At Analog Devices, Chakraborty achieved zero non-conformances in an MDSAP recertification audit and saved $140,000 annually by integrating business software systems with the company’s quality management system. She also serves on the advisory board of the Institute for AI Governance in Healthcare.
She was honored with the RAPS Rising Star Award and the Quality Rookie of the Year Award in 2025. “I am motivated to keep showing up with curiosity, humility, and courage as an advocate for patient safety,” Chakraborty says in a release.
AAMI Cybersecurity Visionary Award sponsored by MedCrypt
Christopher Falkner, MS, CCE, senior director of healthcare digital strategy at Sodexo, is the recipient of the 2026 Cybersecurity Visionary Award sponsored by MedCrypt.
Falkner has spent his career transforming medical device cybersecurity from a technical compliance exercise into an enterprise-wide patient safety discipline. At Kaiser Permanente, he co-developed a cybersecurity roadmap covering more than 200,000 clinical and IoT devices, oversaw deployment of more than 500,000 cybersecurity controls, helped accelerate a $175 million investment program, and reduced incident remediation time by a factor of four. He also co-led Health Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) initiatives to standardize cybersecurity contract language with device manufacturers.
At Sodexo, Falkner built a comprehensive healthcare technology cybersecurity offering from concept to national deployment, accelerating development by 50% and projecting more than $6 million in annual revenue while training over 450 HTM professionals in foundational cybersecurity practices. He is also an adjunct professor of graduate biomedical engineering at the University of Connecticut and a published author in Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology.
His leadership has been recognized with the HIMSS Change Maker Award, the HSCC Cyber Working Group Partnership Medallion, and TechNation’s 40 Under 40. “This incredible community of cybersecurity colleagues should be exceptionally proud of all we have done to make patient care more safe and secure,” Falkner says in a release.
AAMI HTM Association of the Year
The Florida Biomedical Society (FBS) is the recipient of the 2026 AAMI HTM Association of the Year Award.
Founded in 1985, FBS has served HTM professionals across Florida for 41 years through its five regional chapters. The society provides advanced education on emerging medical technologies, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, and device management; supports CBET certification preparation and career development; and offers scholarships for students entering the HTM field. Its vendor-supported, low-cost education model reduces financial barriers to professional development while remaining entirely volunteer-led.
FBS’ triennial symposium is its flagship event. In 2025, the society celebrated its 20th consecutive multi-day symposium and 40 years of service, drawing 300 to 500 HTM professionals, more than 50 exhibitors, and 30-plus advanced educational sessions. Topics spanned clinical engineering, cybersecurity, AI, and women in leadership.
“If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together—and this award belongs to our entire community,” the society stated in a release.
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