MELVILLE, N.Y., (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), The Inventor of MR Scanning, today announced that on June 4, 2020, its board of directors appointed Richard E. Turk as a replacement independent director to fill vacancies on the Company’s board of directors and audit committee.

Timothy Damadian, president and CEO of FONAR, said, “Our primary source of income and growth is attributable to its diagnostic imaging management subsidiary, Health Management Company of America (HMCA). We expect Mr. Turk’s remarkable success in growing and acquiring outpatient practices to be very beneficial to our growth, which makes him a perfect fit for the Company. We are delighted to have him working with the board of directors and a member of the audit committee.”

Dr. Raymond Damadian, Chairman of FONAR, continued, “All this follows the recent passing of Robert Janoff, who was a good friend and able member of the board of directors since 1989.”

Mr. Turk is the Chief Development Officer of PRISM Vision Group, a private equity-backed, multi-location, outpatient comprehensive eye care practice headquartered in Union New Jersey. Since joining PRISM in November 2018, Mr. Turk has helped source, analyze, and complete 12 acquisitions. He spearheaded growth efforts that helped PRISM expand from a single-specialty (retina) provider with 17 locations and 21 physicians to a comprehensive, vertically-integrated, multi-specialty, eye care organization with approximately 90 physicians and more than 50 locations across New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Prior to his tenure at PRISM, Mr. Turk was employed by Professional Physical Therapy, a private equity-backed outpatient physical and occupational therapy company headquartered in Uniondale New Jersey with more than 180 locations across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. During his four years at Professional Physical Therapy, Mr. Turk sourced, analyzed, and completed 32 acquisitions comprised of 116 clinics, expanding the company’s services and adding three states.

From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Turk was employed by Bruderman Brothers, a broker dealer involved in investment banking, merchant banking, investment advisory, and consulting for lower middle market companies ($10M- $250M of enterprise value) in a variety of industries, including healthcare. Mr. Turk was Vice President of Bruderman Brothers from 2011 to 2014.

Mr. Turk graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in American History in 2007.

About FONAR

FONAR, the Inventor of MR Scanning™, located in Melville, NY, was incorporated in 1978, and is the first, oldest and most experienced MRI company in the industry. FONAR introduced the world’s first commercial MRI in 1980, and went public in 1981. FONAR’s signature product is the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI (also known as the Stand-Up® MRI), the only whole-body MRI that performs Position™ Imaging (pMRI™) and scans patients in numerous weight-bearing positions, i.e. standing, sitting, in flexion and extension, as well as the conventional lie-down position. The FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI often detects patient problems that other MRI scanners cannot because they are lie-down and ”weightless” only scanners. The patient-friendly UPRIGHT® MRI has a near-zero patient claustrophobic rejection rate. As a FONAR customer states, “If the patient is claustrophobic in this scanner, they’ll be claustrophobic in my parking lot.” Approximately 85% of patients are scanned sitting while watching TV.