Maya Angelou said, “If you’re going to live, leave a legacy. Make a mark on the world that can’t be erased.” For nine years, we have looked to recognize those people in healthcare and life sciences who are making a mark on our industry, on patients, on colleagues, on the world. These people represent our ELITE 100: the individuals and teams who throughout their careers are building legacies marked by helping people live better—and hopefully longer—lives. It’s the reason why so many join our industry in the first place, and these people are making that happen.

These legacies are being built at various points in our winners’ careers in roles that span the industry. From CEOs to product managers, tech geniuses to environmental warriors, serial entrepreneurs to a mother who started a philanthropic organization to help patients like her son, the 2023 ELITE 100 features the full gamut of people in the life sciences who are making a real difference across all aspects of healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics.

At the top of this year’s list is our Uber ELITE winner Tom McCourt, CEO, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, who has left an undeniable mark within the gastrointestinal space for the past 35 years. He has worked on game-changing brands including Prilosec, Nexium, Zelnorm, and LINZESS—plus, he isn’t nearly done.

In fact, it’s probably safe to say that none of the ELITE individuals and teams you can read about below are done growing their legacies. So, see what they have done so far and keep an eye on what they will do next.

The ELITE Awards honors people in the following 19 categories:

  • Creative Directors: Marketers known for their daring creative and jealousy-inducing campaigns.
  • 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.
  • Entrepreneurs: Visionary risk-takers who develop new companies to answer unmet needs.
  • Environmental Champions: Individuals or teams who are leading environmental or sustainability efforts within their organization or even outside of their day jobs.
  • 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.
  • Philanthropic Heroes: Anyone doing charity work or philanthropic endeavors that are helping individuals, communities, or the world at large.
  • 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 2023 ELITE 100 Winners are:

Uber ELITE

ELITE 2023 Uber Winner Tom McCourt of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals

Creative Directors

ELITE 2023 Creative Director Marissa Ori of AbelsonTaylor

ELITE 2023 Creative Director George Recine of PRECISIONeffect

ELITE 2023 Creative Director Elizabeth Rooney of EVERSANA INTOUCH

ELITE 2023 Creative Director Michael Ruby of Park & Battery

ELITE 2023 Creative Director Jeff Scott of Calcium

Data Miners

ELITE 2023 Data Miner Omnya El Massad of EVERSANA

ELITE 2023 Data Miner Elizabeth Fairley of Talking Medicines

ELITE 2023 Data Miner Lindsey Lofgren of Veeva Systems

ELITE 2023 Data Miner John Mossawir of Initiative

ELITE 2023 Data Miner Caitlyn Sell of Takeda Pharmaceutical U.S.A, Inc.

Digital Crusaders

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Don Abramo of Pharming Healthcare Inc.

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Karina Castagna of OptimizeRx

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Matt Goff of Coherus Biosciences

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Dave Herman of Calcium + Company

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Ryan Mason of Fishawack Health

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Mike Monovoukas of AcuityMD

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Marie Oglesbee of UCB, Inc.

ELITE 2023 Digital Crusader Rui Yang of Novartis

Disrupters

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Heidi Anderson of Nox Health

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Nicole Benedetto of Organon

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Ryan Bleeks of Visiox Pharmaceuticals

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Claudia Ciciliano of Bayer

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Hilary Hatch of Phreesia

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Andrea Palmer of Publicis Health Media

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Sloan Sehr of Cluep

ELITE 2023 Disrupter Eden Wells of Novartis Innovative Medicines

Entrepreneurs

ELITE 2023 Entrepreneurs Ken Begasse Jr. and Michael Sanzen of ConcentricLife

ELITE 2023 Entrepreneur Lalitha Priya Chandrashekhar of PFG MedComm

ELITE 2023 Entrepreneur Victoria Donovan of Clinically Media

ELITE 2023 Entrepreneurs William Grambley and Clifford Jones of AllazoHealth

ELITE 2023 Entrepreneur Rob Likoff of Vpak Media

Environmental Champions

ELITE 2023 Environmental Champion Jennifer Blossom Beddingfield of Xavier Creative House

Launch Experts

ELITE 2023 Launch Expert Kathy Sue Bennett of Medexus Pharma

ELITE 2023 Launch Expert Claudia Beqaj of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

ELITE 2023 Launch Expert Jonathan Commons of Mayne Pharma

ELITE 2023 Launch Expert Carolyn Levin of LEO Pharma Inc.

ELITE 2023 Launch Expert Julie Spoleti of closerlook, a part of Fishawack Health

Leaders of the Future

ELITE 2023 Leader of the Future Nicole Connelly of ImmunoGen

ELITE 2023 Leader of the Future Ceyda Uslu Güvener of Takeda

ELITE 2023 Leader of the Future Charlotte Harrison of Nestlé Health Science

ELITE 2023 Leader of the Future Kimberlee Moon of Boehringer Ingelheim

ELITE 2023 Leader of the Future Amy West of Novo Nordisk

Marketing Teams

ELITE 2023 Marketing Team iVIZIA Brand Team of Thea Pharma Inc. and Similasan Corp.

ELITE 2023 Marketing Team Jardiance Cardiovascular Team of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co.

ELITE 2023 Marketing Team Krazati Marketing Team of Mirati Therapeutics

ELITE 2023 Marketing Team The DeepIntent Marketing Team

ELITE 2023 Marketing Team VYVGART Brand Launch Team of argenx

ELITE 2023 Marketing Team Wegovy Obesity Marketing Team of Novo Nordisk Inc.

Master Educators

ELITE 2023 Master Educator Billie Lynn Allard of the Association for Chronic & Complex Care Nurse Navigators

ELITE 2023 Master Educator Beth Bell of AstraZeneca

ELITE 2023 Master Educator Sandra Graham-Mason of Regeneron

ELITE 2023 Master Educator Don Manser of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

ELITE 2023 Master Educator Ujwal Pyati of Real Chemistry

Mentors

ELITE 2023 Mentor Lauren Boyer of Underscore Marketing

ELITE 2023 Mentor Julie Quarcini of EVERSANA INTOUCH

ELITE 2023 Mentor Rabiya S. Tuma of Remedy Health Media

Patient Advocates

ELITE 2023 Patient Advocate Kuswantie Agrawal of Regeneron

ELITE 2023 Patient Advocate Kristen Baugher of Mirum Pharmaceuticals

ELITE 2023 Patient Advocate Garrett Ingrando of Takeda

ELITE 2023 Patient Advocate Michele Kemp of Harmony Biosciences

ELITE 2023 Patient Advocate David LeDuc of AstraZeneca

ELITE 2023 Patient Advocate Nareda Mills of Inizio Engage, an Inizio Company

Philanthropic Heroes

ELITE 2023 Philanthropic Hero Jessica Curran of Kindness Over Muscular Dystrophy

ELITE 2023 Philanthropic Hero Kristen Gerhardt of PRECISIONscientia

ELITE 2023 Philanthropic Hero Eugene L. Green of Sharecare

ELITE 2023 Philanthropic Hero Jeff Rothstein of CultHealth, An Indegene Company

PR Gurus

ELITE 2023 PR Guru Melanie Brunner of Ogilvy Health

ELITE 2023 PR Guru Stacey Gandler of PRotein, a division of Calcium + Company

Sales MVPs

ELITE 2023 Sales MVP Laura Blair of ConnectiveRx

ELITE 2023 Sales MVP Kelly Heath of Galderma Laboratories, L.P.

ELITE 2023 Sales MVP Brian D. Simmons of imre

Strategists

ELITE 2023 Strategist Ticia Cawley of ConnectiveRx

ELITE 2023 Strategist Arianna Edwards of DYNAVAX

ELITE 2023 Strategist Jose Ferreira of CMI Media Group

ELITE 2023 Strategist Maria Fotiu of Syneos Health

ELITE 2023 Strategist Joe Fullmer of Sharecare

ELITE 2023 Strategist Brian Kaiser of Klick Health

ELITE 2023 Strategist David Kerner of PRECISIONeffect

ELITE 2023 Strategist Dan Landers of Initiative

ELITE 2023 Strategist Anna Ross of VMLY&R Health

ELITE 2023 Strategist Darielle Ruderman of GSK

ELITE 2023 Strategist Christopher Savage of Inizio Engage, an Inizio Company

ELITE 2023 Strategist Akeel Williams of GoodRx

Talent Acquisition Leaders

ELITE 2023 Talent Acquisition Leader Ashley Andert of VMS BioMarketing

Tech-Know Geeks

ELITE 2023 Tech-Know Geek Greg Christie of StudyKIK

ELITE 2023 Tech-Know Geek Mario Müller of Veeva Systems

Transformational Leaders

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Cheryl Barry of Gladskin

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Neera Chaudhary

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Alana Darden-Powell of Urovant Sciences, Inc.

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Taylor De Block of Propeller

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Mark Droke of TrialCard

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Jamie Glass of Health & Wellness Partners

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Vivian Hackman of ImmunoGen, Inc.

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Jeanine Koch of AbelsonTaylor

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Sayee Natarajan of RxDataScience

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Scott Schappell of Health Union

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Aklilu Tedla of Cardinal Health

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Kaley Wagner of CrowdPharm

ELITE 2023 Transformational Leader Jenny Yu of Healthline Media

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