Joan Sullivan Garrett is Founder and Chairman of the Board for MedAire. A 1979 graduate of MCC’s nursing program, Joan recognized the need for remote medical care after assisting a seriously injured 8-year-old boy in a remote desert area as a critical-care registered flight nurse. The experience propelled Joan to create an industry that remains the gold standard across the globe.

Since its founding in 1985, MedAire has grown to become the leading global provider of 24/7 medical and security assistance, medical kits, and equipment as well as crew medical training for the aviation and maritime industries. MedAire’s MedLink connects clients to emergency room physicians trained for assisting in remote health emergencies.

Author of numerous papers regarding medical and health subjects, Joan is an industry expert, often quoted in national and international media such as USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Discovery Channel. Her Congressional testimony in 2001 led the Federal Aviation Administration to require U.S. airlines to carry automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and enhanced medical kits (EMKs) on all domestic flights. The regulation went into effect in 2004.

Joan is an Arizona State University Spirit of Enterprise winner and received the 1997 Flight Safety Foundation’s Business Aviation Meritorious Service Award and the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. This fall, Joan received the International Aviation Women’s Association Woman of Excellence Award and is the second woman ever to receive the National Business Aviation Association Meritorious Service Award for extraordinary lifelong contributions to aviation.

For a link to the full video of the ceremony, please visit MCC Hall of Fame 2017.