January 26, 2024
The Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association (GLATA) will honor Joe Whitson with the 2023 GLATA Dedicated Service Award. Whitson is the current Senior Director of Professional and Facility Services and Medical Arts Practice Manager for the Hopedale Medical Complex in Hopedale, IL. Whitson has devoted countless hours over his career to serving and advocating for the profession and all of those within, with involvement at the state, district, and national levels for over 20 years. During his career, he has been a part of several collegiate sports medicine programs, presented with the NATA Service Award in 2020, inducted to the IATA Hall of Fame in 2019, and presented with the IATA Dedicated Service Award in 2016.
The GLATA Dedicated Service Award is given to recognize those members who have demonstrated a superior level of excellence in managing and completing projects with the goal and outcome of creating a positive image of the GLATA and athletic training profession.
Formal criteria for the Dedicated Service Award include:
• Nominees must be active members of the GLATA for at least five (5) years prior to nomination.
• Nominees must have taken direction and created a positive image of GLATA while assisting GLATA Executive Board with that vision.
• Nominees must have demonstrated measurable outcomes of their efforts.
• Nominees must have shown evidence of involving and leading other members.
• Nominees must have a valid NPI number.
GLATA is a professional membership association for athletic trainers and athletic training students in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The association strives to enhance the quality of health care for the physically active, promote the athletic trainer, and advance the profession of athletic training through education and research in the prevention, evaluation, management, and rehabilitation of injuries.
Joe Whitson will be honored at the GLATA annual meeting and symposium on March 14th, 2024, before a group of his peers, during the Great Lakes Athletic Trainers’ Association Awards Ceremony.