VIP doing bench studies and ValleyAire conducting field studies.  Bob has worked in all segments of oxygen therapy starting out as a staff RT in a hospital and progressing to Director of a large respiratory department.  Moving to industry, Bob has been a product manager, marketing manager and finally a director of Marketing for a large respiratory manufacturer before starting VIP.

Bob is active in his professional organization with an appointment by the AARC to represent the organization to ASTM and has been elected to the chairman position of the home care section of the AARC starting in 2008. 

Bob has published peer review articles in professional journals, written for trade magazines, lectured at both state and national meeting and has participated in numerous LTOT consensus conferences.  Known as a patient advocate, bob can quite often be found meeting with an oxygen patient to discuss challenges the patients have and what needs to be addressed to meet the patient’s needs.

Thomas L. Petty,M.D., a pulmonologist, is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago. He was previously head of the Division of Pulmonary Sciences at the

University and Director of the Fellowship Training Program from 1964-1989. Dr. Petty, an international authority on respiratory disease, has published over 800 articles in journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Chest, Annals of Internal Medicine, American Journal of Medicine, Archives of Internal Medicine, and American Journal of Respiratory & Critical Care Medicine. He is author or editor of 41 books or editions. The Aspen Lung Conference was named after Dr. Petty in 1991.

Dr. Petty was organizer and founding President of the Association of Pulmonary Program Directors (APD) and has served as President of the American College of Chest Physicians. He is a former member of the Board of Governors of the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Petty was the founding Chairman of the National Lung Health Education Program (NLHEP). Among many awards, Dr. Petty has received the Distinguished Service Award of the American Thoracic Society (1995), was elected to the Colorado Pulmonary Physicians Hall of Fame (1995), and received the annual award for excellence by the American Association for Respiratory and Cardiovascular rehabilitation (1995). He was elected to Master Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (1995), the fifth such award given by the ACCP in its 61-year history. He also received the Master Award of the American College of Physicians in 1996. He was awarded Master fellowship in the American Association of Respiratory Care in 1999.

Today, Dr. Petty remains active in teaching, patient care, and research. He is editor of a quarterly newsletter, Lung Cancer Frontiers. He is a consultant for many developmental efforts in the treatment of lung diseases.

The American College of Chest Physicians at the CHEST conference in Chicago gave tribute to Dr. Petty. The video does load slowly, but you don't want to miss it. Feb. 4, 2008
http://www.chestfoundation.org/videos/web_small/PettyMovie.mov