National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO Ed Bolen congratulated Joan Sullivan Garrett – a former NBAA Board member and NBAA Meritorious Service to Aviation Award recipient – as an inductee to the National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) Class of 2020, in recognition of her visionary work as the founder of MedAire, the first aviation global medical emergency response company. Garrett will be formally enshrined at a September 2020, ceremony in Dayton, OH.
“Joan has effectively used her experience, expertise and empathy to create an extraordinary company that promotes safety and saves lives,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “We congratulate her on this well-deserved honor, bestowed by the National Aviation Hall of Fame.”
The founder of MedAire, Garrett is an industry pioneer in critical-care medical response utilizing state-of-the-art equipment and trained professionals. The company directs real-time safety services to thousands annually throughout aviation. More than 30 years after she launched MedAire in 1985, the company continues to provide lifesaving products and services for both the aviation and maritime sectors.
Garrett, who served as CEO of MedAire until 2006, used aviation medicine statistics and real-world experience to advise the aviation industry on health and safety-related issues. Her congressional testimony in 2001 is credited with prompting the FAA to issue a final rule requiring U.S. airlines to carry automated external defibrillators and enhanced emergency medical kits.
Earlier in her career, Garrett served as a critical-care flight nurse and chief medical officer. She has authored numerous whitepapers on health and medical subjects, from the use of inflight defibrillators to issues concerning bioterrorism, and she is often quoted as an authority on such topics in national and international media outlets.
A member of NBAA for more than 30 years, Garrett has served as both chair and vice chair of the association’s Advisory Council, as well as a member of NBAA’s Board of Directors. She received NBAA’s Meritorious Service to Aviation Award in 2017. Additionally, she has received the Flight Safety Foundation’s Business Aviation Meritorious Service Award and served as vice chair of the foundation’s board of governors.
View NBAA’s video tribute to Joan Sullivan Garrett, produced in conjunction with the 2017 Meritorious Service to Aviation Award.
