Since the pandemic began and forced us to turn our awards celebrations virtual, we have waited patiently for the time to come when we could once again celebrate together—in person. We are thrilled that it is now only a couple of months away with our ELITE Awards Celebration scheduled for July 13th at 230 FIFTH in New York City. And the best part: we will be honoring one of the people who made this all possible.
This year’s Uber ELITE winner is Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development, and Medical at Pfizer. He is the man responsible for leading the development team behind the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine as well as the oral antiviral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid. By now, it is likely you know this was the fastest vaccine ever developed. It is the first-ever approved vaccine to use mRNA technology. And it the reason we are finally able to return to our lives and throw a party like only PM360 can.
But what you might not know is Dr. Dolsten has been revamping Pfizer’s R&D department for the past decade, and in that time has improved the company’s R&D success rate when leaving Phase 2 from below 20% to 50%. Thanks to his efforts, you can expect more groundbreaking developments to come out of Pfizer’s pipeline in areas such as multiple myeloma, breast cancer, prostate cancer, respiratory syncytial virus, and much more. You can read more about his work here, or you can join us on July 13th and hear it straight from the source.
Of course, he is not the only one we will be celebrating on that day. This issue profiles all of our ELITE 100 winners and the incredible things they are doing and have done throughout their careers. These people are working to change our industry for the better by developing innovative new treatments, reimagining the clinical research process, addressing health inequalities and other social determinants of health that prevent people from getting the care they need, and inspiring the next generation to be even better. We even added two new categories, Philanthropic Heroes and Environmental Champions, to recognize the people who are making differences in the world beyond their day jobs.
Take the time to read all about them and then join us on July 13th to truly celebrate their achievements. It’s time again to party and we can’t wait.