LTEN today announced and honored winners of the 9th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards, the only professional awards program specifically recognizing excellence, innovation and performance in life sciences training. The yearly honors were handed out in a ceremony at #LTEN2023, the 52nd LTEN Annual Conference held this year in Phoenix, Ariz.
Jennifer Bryan and Laura Last, treasurer and vice president, respectively, of the LTEN Board of Directors, served as emcees of the program. Awards were presented in eight competitive categories determined by a panel of judges. The ceremony also honored the 2023 LTEN Members of the Year, selected by the LTEN Board after open nominations.
Also, LTEN recognized recipients of two scholarship programs, the LTEN Field Trainer Scholarships, created by the LTEN Field Trainer Committee, and the Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarship, named for a late Board leader and LTEN member. Recipients of those honors are given a scholarship that can be used for LTEN educational programs or conference attendance.
The annual awards ceremony was live-streamed and can be viewed at www.L-TEN.org/awards in late June.
“It was a true honor to recognize the talent involved in this year’s awards program,” said Lauren Harbert, executive director of LTEN. “We had by far the most nominees ever this year, and each one of those nominees was deserving of an award. This was without question an extremely challenging year for our judges. Their hard work paid off though; the quality of this year’s award winners is nothing short of incredible. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the awards program this year – nominees, finalists, winners and judges – for helping us honor truly amazing, innovative work.”
Three LTEN Members of the Year were selected this year as Members of the Year, two in the primary market category and one from the industry supplier community. Each was selected based on their ongoing support of, involvement in and commitment to LTEN. The 2023 LTEN 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.
Here are the winners in the eight competitive categories in the LTEN Excellence Awards and the 2023 recipients of the LTEN Field Trainer Scholarships and the Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarships:
All-Star Teams (primary market) – In a tie, the awards went to AbbVie for creating The Academy ecosystem to elevate people’s proficiency on key competencies at AbbVie, and Bayer, for designing and developing a Masters In Training (MIT) Program to build capability and confidence in local Bayer trainers responsible for delivering training for customer-facing teams.
Emerging Leaders (primary market) – Chris Sumter, Novo Nordisk, for leading multiple, impactful organization-wide initiatives.
Innovation (primary market) – Monica Gillison, Hugh Hardman, Mariko Weatherly & John Sjovall, SK Life Science, designed a custom-built digital program that allowed users to experience the various aspects of their epilepsy business.
Training for Change (primary market) – Eisai, for building cross-departmental new hire content with a paced, experience-bound curriculum, driven by adult learning principles.
QRDM (Quality, Research, Development and Medical) Training Innovation, Impact & Efficiency (primary market) – Monitoring Clinical Learning Journeys, Philips, for utilizing clinical learning journeys to evolve customer education.
Innovation (provider) – TiER1 Performance, for partnering to create Roche’s Marketing Excellence Academy offers global certification-level training for marketing professionals, combining diverse learning methods and expert-led sessions.
Learning Content (provider) – Unboxed Training and Technology, partnered with Smith+Nephew to develop a customized training program focusing on sales negotiation.
Industry Partnership (provider) – Springer Healthcare and BeiGene, for humanizing training through an interactive patient journey.
The 2023 Field Trainer Scholarships went to Amy Lang of Astella Pharma, for leading an overhaul of the new-hire training program, and Mark Schuster of Teva Pharmaceuticals, who designed and led a pilot program to help facilitate virtual calls with healthcare providers.
The 2023 Chuck Pearson Learning Scholarships went to Ama Agumeh of Takeda Pharmaceutical, who led and deployed a new mentoring program for more than 300 people within U.S. Medical Affairs, and Steven Lopez of Janssen Oncology, who successfully executed three preceptorship programs to fill a clinical education gap for sales representatives.
For more information on the awards and/or to view past winners, visit www.ltenconference.com/awards.
LTEN congratulates all winners, and thanks all nominees, finalists and judges for their participation in the 9th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards. Nominations for the 10th Annual LTEN Excellence Awards will open in late 2023.
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 3,600 individual members who work in pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies, and industry partners who support the life sciences training departments.
