Bruce Becker

Bruce Becker, founder of the National Aquatics and Sports Medicine Institute based at Washington State University, is one of "Power 25" leaders recognized in February by "Aquatics International" magazine. He is a physician and a research professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Counseling Psychology, home to WSU's kinesiology programs. "From producing ground-breaking research to changing safety standards, these industry leaders are pushing the envelope and striving to reinvent aquatics," said the magazine's editors. Becker's childhood experience with polio introduced him to the therapeutic effects of aquatics, the magazine said in its profile of him. After retiring from his Spokane medical practice, he launched the aquatics institute in 2008 with support from the National Swimming Pool Foundation.