This past year, perhaps more so than any other in the last 100+ years, the world needed those within the healthcare and life sciences industry to be elite. People who exemplify what our own ELITE Awards have stood for since its inception seven years ago: Exceptional Leaders, Innovators, Transformers, and Entrepreneurs. People who saw the world in turmoil due to a global pandemic and were capable of acting fast.

We have always referred to our ELITE 100 as the most influential people in the healthcare and life sciences industries. Well, if you have ever doubted how much impact these people could have on those industries—or even the world—then just consider what this year’s winners accomplished. A team of scientists pivoted from their research into Ebola to discover an antibody cocktail that is shown to reduce hospitalization and death of COVID-19 by 70%. An AI expert created a system to help speed up parts of the clinical trial development process from 30 days to 22 hours. A diagnostic company executive helped devise the first drive-thru testing site in New York. An ad executive who started her career as a nurse went back to the frontlines as a volunteer to administer vaccines.

Then, of course, there is our Uber ELITE winner, Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, whose company developed one of the first vaccines in record time. We can already see the effect that is having around the world as restrictions are slowly being lifted and we are able to get back to more of the things we love.

While not all of our winners may be responsible for an impact quite as large as that—he is our Uber winner after all—they all represent the power of our industry. Even beyond the pandemic, the life sciences are in the business of saving and improving lives. And these are the people who help make that possible in big ways and small. Take the time to learn about each one.

The ELITE Awards honors people in the following 19 categories:

  • Creative Directors: Marketers known for their daring creative and jealousy-inducing campaigns.
  • COVID Heroes: Anyone who stepped up during the pandemic to better help patients, aid HCPs, develop treatments, or find new ways to help their own organization adjust.
  • Data Miners: Individuals who specialize in analytics and can turn hordes of numbers and research into actionable insight.
  • Digital Crusaders: Those who advance digital channel applications or platforms to transform marketing and/or company operations.
  • Disrupters:Fearless individuals who disrupt the status quo to revolutionize the industry.
  • Drug Researchers and Developers:The scientists, researchers, and clinical trial experts moving the industry forward with new breakthroughs.
  • Entrepreneurs: Visionary risk-takers who develop new companies to answer unmet needs.
  • Launch Experts: Marketers with significant success in bringing a new drug to market or in revitalizing markets for an older drug.
  • Leaders of the Future: Up-and-comers who display the characteristics of an emerging leader.
  • Marketing Teams: Teams that have achieved great marketing success together as a group.
  • Master Educators: People who revolutionize the way patients/doctors learn and absorb information.
  • Mentors:The role models others aspire to emulate.
  • Patient Advocates:Those who make sure patients’ voices are heard and needs are met.
  • PR Gurus: Communication experts who are masters at spreading news and good publicity.
  • Sales MVPs: Company sales leaders who do an outstanding job of building revenue and nurturing company growth.
  • Strategists: People with a sixth sense for what works—and the ability to predict what the industry needs to do to remain relevant.
  • Talent Acquisition Leaders:The industry’s top job recruiters and HR executives.
  • Tech-know Geeks: Innovators who spearhead technological breakthroughs that reshape the industry.
  • Transformational Leaders:People who change the way companies operate.

The 2021 ELITE Winners are:

Uber ELITE

ELITE 2021 Uber Winner Stéphane Bancel of Moderna

Creative Directors

ELITE 2021 Creative Director Kevin Millar of INVIVO

ELITE 2021 Creative Director Noah Lowenthal of AbelsonTaylor

ELITE 2021 Creative Director Yueh Fang Feng of imre Health

COVID Heroes

ELITE 2021 COVID Hero Jim Weiss of Real Chemistry

ELITE 2021 COVID Hero Kelly Pollard of BayCare

ELITE 2021 COVID Hero Mary Ray of MyHealthTeams

ELITE 2021 COVID Hero Sheri Rosenblatt of fit2market

ELITE 2021 COVID Hero Wendy Blackburn of Intouch Group

ELITE 2021 COVID Heroes Lawrence J. Benenati and Vincent A. Benenati of Secure Wear USA

ELITE 2021 COVID Heroes REGEN-COV R&D Team of Regeneron

Data Miners

ELITE 2021 Data Miner Brigham Hyde of EVERSANA

ELITE 2021 Data Miner Malaikannan Sankarasubbu of Saama Technologies

Digital Crusaders

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader David Shronk of Health Union

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader George Tarnopolsky of CMI Media Group

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader Jake Knorr of Acadia Pharmaceuticals

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader Jill Wassil of Urovant Sciences, Inc.

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader Kate Horvath of Propeller

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader Raymond Wong of Gilead Sciences

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusader Sarah Mahoney of Weber Shandwick

ELITE 2021 Digital Crusaders Nick Bartolomeo and Bryan O’Malley of Fingerpaint

Disrupters

ELITE 2021 Disrupter AJ Ahuja of ViiV Healthcare

ELITE 2021 Disrupter Allory Williams of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

ELITE 2021 Disrupter Andi Weiss of MicroMass

ELITE 2021 Disrupter Kent Thoelke of PRA Health Sciences

ELITE 2021 Disrupter Lee Taurman of Syneos Health

ELITE 2021 Disrupter Mike Myers of Cross & Wild and CrowdPharm

ELITE 2021 Disrupter Timmy Garde of LevLane

Drug Researchers and Developers

ELITE 2021 Drug Researchers and Developers Bobak Azamian and Michael Ackermann of Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

ELITE 2021 Drug Researchers and Developers Martin-Immanuel Bittner and Thomas A. Fleming of Arctoris

Entrepreneurs

ELITE 2021 Entrepreneur Chris Paquette of DeepIntent

ELITE 2021 Entrepreneur Farlan Veraitch of Ori Biotech

ELITE 2021 Entrepreneur Natalie Yeadon of Impetus Digital

ELITE 2021 Entrepreneur Noam Solomon of Immunai

ELITE 2021 Entrepreneurs James Tinker, John Tenaglia, and Michael Banner of Moon Rabbit

Launch Experts

ELITE 2021 Launch Expert Angela Nicolella-Jay of Puma Biotechnology, Inc.

ELITE 2021 Launch Expert Izabella Tyszler of Orphazyme

ELITE 2021 Launch Experts Jake Lorms and Ardra Gerard of ViiV Healthcare

Leaders of the Future

ELITE 2021 Leader of the Future Courtney Holliday of Amgen

ELITE 2021 Leader of the Future Emily Rose of Verywell Mind

ELITE 2021 Leader of the Future Heather M. Shankman of Medscape/WebMD

ELITE 2021 Leader of the Future Kylie Hall of ConnectiveRx

ELITE 2021 Leader of the Future Nicholas Lucente of AstraZeneca

ELITE 2021 Leader of the Future Trevor Hadick of Merkle

Marketing Teams

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team Boehringer Ingelheim Payor Solutions Marketing Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team Entresto Marketing Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team GLP-1 Consumer Marketing Team & Omni-Channel Media Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team Kite U.S. Patient Marketing Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team MS/NMO Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team OXLUMO® (lumasiran) Launch Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team TEPEZZA Marketing Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team the Fresenius Kabi Parenteral Nutrition Team

ELITE 2021 Marketing Team XYWAV Launch Team

Master Educators

ELITE 2021 Master Educator Burt Zweigenhaft of Association for Value-based Cancer Care (AVBCC)

ELITE 2021 Master Educator Sharon Gentry of Academy of Oncology Nurse & Patient Navigators (AONN+)

Mentors

ELITE 2021 Mentor Dora P. Shankman of DPS Strategic Media Enterprises, LLC

ELITE 2021 Mentor Lauren Westberg of PRECISIONeffect

ELITE 2021 Mentor Michael Heinley of Finn Partners

ELITE 2021 Mentor Scott Harper of Elevate Healthcare

Patient Advocates

ELITE 2021 Patient Advocate Andrew Schorr of Patient Power and Remedy Health Media

ELITE 2021 Patient Advocate Arianne Breiteneicher of Supernus Pharmaceuticals

ELITE 2021 Patient Advocate Brian East of Takeda

ELITE 2021 Patient Advocate Desdemona De Souza of Snow Companies

PR Gurus

ELITE 2021 PR Guru Jamie Dowd of Weber Shandwick

ELITE 2021 PR Guru Shannon Walsh of Ogilvy Health

Sales MVPs

ELITE 2021 Sales MVP Brady Walcott of Intouch Group

ELITE 2021 Sales MVP Garrett R. Groesbeck of Ashfield MedComms

ELITE 2021 Sales MVP Paul Ellis of Mesmerize

ELITE 2021 Sales MVP Scott Schappell of Sharecare

Strategists

ELITE 2021 Strategist Caitlin Marsh of Pharming Healthcare

ELITE 2021 Strategist Daniel S. Fitzgerald of Apollo Intelligence

ELITE 2021 Strategist Joan-Marie Stiglich of Healio

ELITE 2021 Strategist Leah Christoffersen of Merkle

ELITE 2021 Strategist Lori Wood of Valuate Health Consultancy

ELITE 2021 Strategist Nadia Khatri of BioPharm Communications

ELITE 2021 Strategist Rodney Spady of Teva Pharmaceuticals

ELITE 2021 Strategist Snehal S. Katare of MedTrix Healthcare LLC

ELITE 2021 Strategist Sumant Rajendran of Scilex Pharmaceuticals

Talent Acquisition Leaders

ELITE 2021 Talent Acquisition Leader Melissa Morrow of Calcium

ELITE 2021 Talent Acquisition Leader Michelle Edwards of Heartbeat

ELITE 2021 Talent Acquisition Leader Stephen Wells of Myriad Genetics, Inc.

Tech-know Geeks

ELITE 2021 Tech-Know Geek Joseph Crapotta of The Bloc

ELITE 2021 Tech-Know Geek Kevin R. Haas of Myriad Genetics, Inc.

Transformational Leaders

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Ali Castro of Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Alisa Lask of Galderma

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Amy Gómez of Klick Health

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader David Linetsky of Phreesia

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Ed Ikeguchi of AiCure

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Helen Wan of Myriad Genetics, Inc.

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Jeremy Brody of Kantar Health

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Jim Lang of EVERSANA

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Katherine Cheng of Genentech

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Marlo Benevento of Virgo Health

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Mathieu Letombe of Withings

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Myra Reinhardt of Lash Group

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Natalie Cummins of BioReference Laboratories, Inc.

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Richard Vincent of FundamentalVR

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Sloan Gaon of PulsePoint

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader Tara Herington of Cardinal Health Sonexus™ Access and Patient Support

ELITE 2021 Transformational Leader W. Clint Burrus of Ashfield Engage

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