In June 2007, Joan Thayer Hawes, a Case Manager for Akeso Care Management^®, was named Cambridge's Who's Who as the Professional of the Year in Health Care Case Management. This is a top honor that only two women and two men are named to each year in the U.S.

Joan began her career as a Staff Nurse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She later moved to Ohio where she continued her education and managed to establish a Telemetry Unit - the first unit as such to monitor patients who were ill but did not need intensive care. Constantly working with cardiac patients, cardiac rehabilitation became Joan’s passion in 1980.

Joan continued her efforts and later established another program which consisted of in-patient exercise and education, and out-patient monitored exercise and continued education. She quickly realized that high cholesterol was an issue in many of these patients and noticed a growing need to create food recipes that were lower in cholesterol.

Her research resulted in the creation of PAN (Positive Approach Now) which led to local restaurants placing an illustration of a heart on menu items that were low in cholesterol. In 1986, Women’s Day magazine caught wind of the program and featured it, along with some recipes, in one of its issues. The program generated tremendous national response and as a result, the cookbook Recipes from the Heart was written and published.

Over the course of the next several years, Joan became involved in the design and planning of a women's center which offered screening mammograms, as well as taught women to do self-breast examinations. The center was later accredited by the American College of Radiology. In 1995, Joan was co-chair of a fund raising event to build a new hospice in Sandusky, Ohio. The event was a success and upon completion, Joan assisted the organization in establishing orientation programs for the social workers and nursing personnel.

In 1999, Joan moved to Indiana and became a Clinical Coordinator for cardiovascular research at The Indiana Heart Hospital. She later left and went to Eli Lilly and Company where she was a Research Consultant. In 2005, Joan joined Akeso Care Management. She enjoys her role and working for a company where the clients' welfare is always a priority.