Army Veteran Paul Collier named best of the BESS

Army Veteran Paul Collier was recently recognized as VA Supervisory Biomedical Equipment Support Specialist (BESS) of the Year.

Collier has served in the supervisory capacity for one year managing the Biomedical Engineering Program at G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA.

“Since serving as 91B in the Army, I have always wanted to continue my hands-on work but transition to a healthcare setting,” said Collier. “I truly enjoy that biomedical engineering allows me to not only analyze data but to also mix in the clinical and technical aspects of health care.”

Within the past year, he excelled in his career transition from Information Systems BESS to Supervisory BESS. During that time period, he led the team from 131st in the nation to 1st in the South Central VA Health Care Network and 22nd in the nation.

Army Veteran Paul Collier

Took VA hospital to number one in the network

“Paul is truly one of a kind,” said chief of Facilities Management Service Tracy Ruger. “After being selected to serve as the lead supervisory BESS, he immediately went to work making sustainable changes to the entire program. His tireless work is evident by the tremendous improvements made within the program. Under his leadership, the program is now first in our network, something we are extremely proud of.”

Biomedical Equipment Support Specialists represent a unique health care profession within VA. They often work side-by-side with clinical engineers, applying the fundamentals of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and engineering to solve medically relevant problems.

Skillset includes many talents

There are more than 300 biomedical engineers working at VA facilities across the country. Their skillset merges engineering principles and design concepts with medicine and biology, advancing diagnostic and therapeutic health care treatment.

Collier added, “While most of my work is done behind the scenes, as a Veteran, I take pride in playing such a pivotal role in improving the health services we provide for our heroes.”

G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA and the Columbus, Greenville, Hattiesburg, Kosciusko, McComb, Meridian and Natchez VA Clinics are all part of the VA Jackson Health Care System ,which is headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi.

We provide a variety of medical outpatient services to more than 54,000 Veterans.