Roanoke, VA, (DATE) – Capping its Awards Announcement Week 2023 activities, LTEN today announced the finalists for the 9th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards, named the recipients of this year’s scholarship programs and revealed the 2023 LTEN Members of the Year.
The LTEN Excellence Awards recognize the innovative and inspiring work done by life sciences training professionals at pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device and diagnostics companies (“practitioners”) and the strong support, innovation and creativity of training industry partner companies (“providers”). The winners will be announced in a special ceremony on Wednesday, June 14, part of the 52nd LTEN Annual Conference, taking place June 12-15 in Phoenix, Ariz. You can visit www.LTENconference.com to reserve your space at that event and learn more about the speakers, sponsors and agenda.
The awards program will once again honor winners in eight competitive practitioner and provider categories. Special recognition also will be given to recipients of two LTEN scholarship programs, the LTEN Field Trainer Scholarships and the Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarship, named for the late LTEN Board of Directors member. Winners of both scholarship programs will receive credits that can be used for LTEN educational opportunities and event attendance.
In a change from previous years, LTEN this week named its Members of the Year for 2023, in both practitioner and provider categories. The winners of those top honors have gone above and beyond for LTEN in the past years to create, support and deliver programs, content and events for LTEN members. The 2023 Members of the Year are:
- Practitioner winner Jill Benko, director of multi brand commercial training and development for BioMarin Pharmaceutical and a member of the LTEN Advisory Council and the LTEN Social Media Engagement Community.
- Practitioner winner Iain Boomer, AbbVie global learning director for The Academy, an LTEN ambassador and a member of the LTEN Advisory Council and LTEN Global Training Committee.
- Provide winner Jennifer Lalli, senior director of business development and marketing for Encompass Communications and Learning, an LTEN ambassador and a member of LTEN Editorial Advisory Board and Social Media Engagement Community.
“All of our award nominees, Members of the Year and scholarship recipients are impressive this year,” said Lauren Harbert, LTEN executive director. “Our panel of life sciences training leaders who judged this year really excelled at a difficult task, with a record-shattering number of entrants, each of whom was deserving of recognition. The same sentiment goes for our Members of the Year, who give their time and energy throughout the year to support LTEN members. LTEN is stronger because of their dedication and support and it’ll be an honor to recognize them on stage in Phoenix.
“Also deserving of special mention is the LTEN Field Trainer Committee, which administers the Field Trainer Scholarship program each year, and the LTEN Board of Directors, which selects the Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarship recipients from open nominations,” Harbert added. “This year’s scholarship recipients were an impressive crew of life sciences training and sales professionals, and it’s our honor to pat them on the back and to extend to them scholarship resources to help them advance their education and careers.”
The finalists for the 9th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards are listed below.
The Trainers & Training Teams awards category finalists (Practitioners) are:
All-Star Teams:
- AbbVie Global Learning Team
- Abiomed Sales & Commercial Training Team
- Align Technology Sales Associate Development Program
- Bayer Masters In Training Core Project Team
- Eli Lilly Clinical Trial Design Capabilities, Site Training Team
- Genentech CMG Training & Development Metrics Team
- Teleflex Interventional Cardiology and Radiology Training Team
Emerging Leaders:
- Merissa Goodstein, Associate Director, Commercial Leadership and Marketing Development, Gilead Sciences
- Chris Sumter, Associate Director of Employee Experience, Novo Nordisk
- Mindi Ariatti, Launch Training Lead, Takeda Pharmaceutical
- Smadar Catran, Learning Technology Specialist, Teva Pharmaceuticals
Innovation:
- Mariellen Zabel, Nick Gottuk, Joseph Garrison and Susan Hendrich, AstraZeneca
- Sejal Thakrar and Amin Bennabi, Biogen
- Lynn DiBonaventura, CSL Behring
- Kevin Clemence, GE HealthCare
- Merridith Stutts, GlaxoSmithKline
- Shureka King, Philips North America
- Alison Pulte and Paul Kling, Novartis
- Tracy Rubietta, Seagen
- Monica Gillison, SK Life Science
- Christopher Lorio, Jesse Stone, Marjorie Dejoie-Brewer, Jason Lovatt and Sarah Shaw, Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Quality, Research, Development and Medical (QRDM) Training Innovation, Impact & Efficiency Award:
- Laura Last, BeiGene
- Genentech CMG Training & Development B85 Core Team
- Jennifer Bertram, Philips Healthcare
Training for Change:
- Eisai Commercial Training and Development
- Eric Brand, Kellie Molin Kenol and the One-Endo Learning Strategy Team, Endo Pharmaceuticals
- Stephanie de Looz, Intra-Cellular Therapies
- Greg Cochran and the Dermatology, Respiratory, Gastroenterology, Specialty Care Commercial Training Team, Sanofi
- Adam Foster, Takeda Pharmaceutical
- Commercial Training & Development Digital Health Team, Teva Pharmaceuticals
The Industry Partner awards category finalists (Providers) are:
Industry Partnership:
- ACTO, Axiom and Ferring Pharmaceuticals
- CMR Institute and Boehringer Ingelheim
- Metrix Group and AbbVie
- ai and Novartis
- Salience Learning and Bristol Myers Squibb
- Springer Healthcare and BeiGene
- Tipping Point Media and Medtronic
- WLH Consulting & Learning Solutions and Myovant Sciences
Innovation:
- Axiom
- CH1 Consulting
- Cultivate
- IC Axon
- TiER1 Performance
Learning Content:
- Ashfield Excellence Academy
- Attensi
- Encompass Communications and Learning
- EVERSANA
- Illuminate
- Red Nucleus
- Syneos Health
- Unboxed Training & Technology
The winners of the 2023 Field Trainer Scholarships are:
- Amy Lang, Associate Training Manager, Astellas Pharma US
- Mark Schuster, Senior Executive Sales Specialist, Teva Pharmaceuticals
The recipients of the 2023 Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarships are:
- Ama Agumeh, Learning and Development Program Manager, Takeda Pharmaceutical
- Steven Lopez, Training Manager, Janssen Oncology
A number of LTEN resources are available at www.L-TEN.org/awards to help you familiarize yourself with the LTEN Excellence Awards and the scholarship programs, including:
- Links to previous winners and recipients
- Links to poster sessions spotlighting winners and finalists
- LTEN Focus on Training magazine issues highlighting award winners and finalists
To join us at the live awards ceremony on June 14, register to attend the 52nd LTEN Annual Conference at www.LTENconference.com. The LTEN Excellence Awards ceremony will also be broadcast live for those who can’t attend – please pre-register at www.LTENconference.com.
ABOUT LTEN
The Life Sciences Trainers & Educators Network (www.L-TEN.org) is the only global 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization specializing in meeting the needs of life sciences learning professionals. LTEN shares the knowledge of industry leaders, provides insight into new technologies, offers innovative solutions and communities of practice that grow careers and organizational capabilities. Founded in 1971, LTEN has grown to more than 3,400 individual members who work in pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies, and industry partners who support the life sciences training departments.
MEDIA CONTACT
For more information contact Nannette Nolan, LTEN director of marketing communications, at nnolan@L-TEN.org.
