Phacilitate Announces Lifetime Achievement Award Winner for 2024, and Opens Entries for the Second Advanced Therapies Awards

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Following a show–stopping and emotional first edition in 2023, the Advanced Therapies Awards is heralded as the only awards celebration to honor progress and success in advanced therapies.
Phacilitate will once again host the Advanced Therapies Awards during Advanced Therapies Week 2024 in Miami. The format will once again follow the theme of a black-tie gala dinner, with many opportunities for celebrating progress and success in the industry and networking in true Phacilitate-style.
“Last year’s Advanced Therapies Awards were an absolute delight to host,” Phacilitate’s Executive Vice President, Kim Barnes, explained.
“We laughed, cried and celebrated everyone’s successes throughout the evening, which felt at-home to Phacilitate’s overall mission. In bringing together the industry in this way, we continue to push boundaries and advance this revolutionary pillar of medicine, ultimately benefiting the patients and their families who appreciate them most,” Kim continued.
The awards will be presented following an industry-nominated award for the Phacilitate Lifetime Achievement Award, which will this year be presented to Luigi Naldini of San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan, Italy, commemorating Professor Naldini’s commitment to progressing the field of gene therapy to clinical delivery and inspiring future generations of scientists in the field.
Speaking on behalf of the judging panel, Phacilitate Advisory Board member, Sven Kili, commented:
“Professor Naldini embodies the term ‘innovator’. His unwavering dedication to creating curative therapies for his patients has driven him and his team to be undeterred by early failures in the gene therapy space and instead to learn from and develop better and safer cures. Without the dedication and perseverance of Professor Naldini, the gene therapy field would not be where it is today – changing patients’ lives with therapies like Strimvelis, Libmeldy and numerous other still in clinical development.”
Professor Naldini will be the second to be awarded Phacilitate’s Lifetime Achievement Award, following Dr Carl June in 2023, who accepted his award to a standing ovation as the field celebrated the remarkable work and dedication contributed to the development of CAR-T cell therapy.
Watch the full interview with Carl June, here>>
Submissions are open until September 22, 2023 for other awardable categories, including:
- Young Scientist Award
- Manufacturing Tech Disruptor of the Year
- Patient Advocacy Award (Corporate)
- Patient Advocacy Award (Non Profit)
- DE&I Initiative of the Year
- Sustainability Initiative of the Year
- Cell Therapy Biotech Innovation Award
- Gene Therapy Biotech Innovation Award
New to 2024, another category open for entries is The Simon Ellison Supply Chain Innovation Award, launched at the 2023 Advanced Therapies Awards to recognize outstanding individuals and organizations that have demonstrated exceptional dedication to the advancement of supply chain innovation and its critical impact on saving patients’ lives. The award is inspired by the legacy of the late, great and much-loved Simon Ellison, a passionate advocate for supply chain innovation and education.
Nominations for each award will be reviewed by a judging panel of esteemed industry experts including:
- Miguel Forte, President-Elect, ISCT
- Jeff Liter, CEO, OX2 Therapeutics
- Claudia Zylberberg, Founder & Executive Chairman, Akron
- Audrey Greenberg, Co-Founder & Executive Managing Director, Center for Breakthrough Medicines
- Sven Kili, Principal, Sven Kili Consulting
- Kinnari Patel, President & COO, Rocket Pharma
- Susan Nichols, President & CEO, Propel Biosciences Inc
- Anthony Davies, President, Dark Horse Consulting
- Tom Whitehead, Founder, Emily Whitehead Foundation
- Bruce Levine, Professor, University of Pennsylvania
- Nicole Paulk, CEO & Founder, Siren Biotechnology
- Jaqueline Barry, Chief Clinical Officer, Cell & Gene Therapy Catapult
- Barry Byrne, Director, Powell Gene Therapy Center, University of Florida
- Carl June, Professor, University of Pennsylvania
- David Barrett, CEO, ASGCT
- George Eastwood, Interim Executive Director, Emily Whitehead Foundation
- Peggy Sotiropoulou, Chief Scientific Officer, T-knife Therapeutics
- Lore Gruenbaum, VP, Research Therapy Acceleration Program, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
“This year’s Advanced Therapies Awards falls on Phacilitate’s 20th Anniversary, appropriately marking 20 transformative years of success and learnings within the cell and gene therapy industry. We are determined to make this even bigger and better than last year, with many surprises and unexpected features already in the works. If you missed last year’s Advanced Therapies Awards, you’ll definitely want to join us for next year’s,” Kim concluded.
You can submit your entry to the Advanced Therapies Awards, here >>