Joseph Andrew de Leon '93, '94
Chief Perfusionist
RGV Cardiac Support Services Inc.
Position Description:
* Manage and maintain current perfusion service contracts
* Direct and establish new businesses
* Manage staff perfusionists and autotranfusionists
* Evaluate new service contracts and supplier contracts.
Necessary education or experience:
* Perfusion degree from an accredited program
* Texas State License to practice perfusion
* Tenure in the company
Key skills that are necessary to be successful in your position:
* Common sense and good judgment
* Ability to work with people with different backgrounds, dispositions and temprament.
* A lot of patience
* Even though I'm in the medical field, the biomedical engineering background has been especially helpful in understanding cardiopulmonary bypass and the way instruments and equipments work (or fail).
A description of your path to your current position:
I never sought out or thought about having this position.
However, I took the part of supporting cast seriously. I was
consistently informed or aware of how things (politics,
contracts, personalities) work. I eventually outlasted
everyone and became chief perfusionist.
Good (and bad) aspects of your current position:
Good:* Freedom to contribute significantly to the course of our company's future
* I've gotten a chance to work with accomplished people and learn how they function and think.
Bad:
* As an allied health professional, I still have minimal control over my work hours.
What do you enjoy about your current position?
Aside from enjoying working in open heart surgery, I currently am learning the business aspects of the industry. I am
starting to enjoy trying to figure out how to maintain and
expand our practice. I think this position will help me gain
skills and insight, which can be used in any other positions
I'll be having in the future.
Any other advice?
It's interesting to look back and see how life kinda threw all
my career paths (from when I was at MSOE) out the
window. God has an amazing and mysterious way of
providing. I've intended to go back into full-time
engineering after two to three years of perfusion practice. Initially, I
thought my time as a perfusionist was not doing anything
for my future engineering career. However, despite being
away from an "engineering" industry, I believe that I'm
learning valuable skills and experiences that can be
a significant assets when I actually go back.
| For information about MSOE's B.S. in Biomedical Engineering program, contact interim program director Dr. Charles Tritt at (414) 277-7421. |