CoARC Names Tom Smalling to Executive Director Position

March 18, 2007

	Thomas R. Smalling

The Committee on Accreditation for Respiratory Care (CoARC) has selected Thomas R. Smalling, PhD, RRT, RPFT, RPSGT, FAARC, as its next executive director, effective April 1, 2008.

Dr. Smalling earned his BS in cardiorespiratory sciences in 1988 and MS in health sciences in 1992, both from Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. In 2006, he earned a PhD in higher education administration from New York University, where he focused on higher education governance and policy analysis.

A member of the respiratory care profession since 1987, he joined the respiratory care program faculty at Stony Brook University in 1995, where he also served as director of clinical education.

Dr. Smalling has served the AARC and the New York State Society for Respiratory Care (NYSSRC) in numerous capacities over the years, including as president of the state society and delegate to the AARC House of Delegates. Most recently, he served as the inaugural chair for the AARC’s Sleep Section.

He has also been a member of the CoARC board since 2004, working primarily on accreditation standards for polysomnography, and has served on several national committees with the Board of Registered Polysomnographic Technologists, the American Association of Sleep Technologists, and National Board for Respiratory Care.

Dr. Smalling’s clinical area of expertise is in pulmonary diagnostics and polysomnography, where he specializes in curriculum development, continuing education, and professional regulatory issues. He is a nationally-recognized speaker and author and has played an important role in the development of a national curriculum in polysomnography. In 2005, Dr. Smalling completed the accreditation process for Stony Brook that resulted in establishing the first CoARC-approved university-based respiratory care program in the nation to offer polysomnography.

He is a member of both the Lambda Beta Society (the National Honor Society for Respiratory Care) and the Alpha-Eta Society (the National Honor Society for Allied Health). In December of 2005, Dr. Smalling was conferred a fellowship by the AARC in recognition of his significant and sustained contributions to the profession of respiratory care.