10th Annual WEGO Health Awards Winners Announced, Including Inaugural Industry Category Honorees

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- WEGO Health, part of Health Union, announces its 2021 class of WEGO Health Awards honorees, including winners in 16 patient leader categories and, for the first time in its decade-long history, six industry categories.

"After a decade of recognizing the most influential patient leaders in the world in a way nobody else was, the WEGO Health Awards continue to provide these individuals with the 'thank you' and honor they dearly deserve," said Jack Barrette, Health Union's chief innovation officer and former CEO of WEGO Health. "It is so meaningful to us that we will once again have the opportunity to celebrate with many of these amazing healthcare transformers in person, this year at the 2021 HLTH conference in Boston."

The categories for the 10th Annual WEGO Health Awards were divided into three subgroups - Showstoppers in Social, Cultivating Community, and Journey of a Patient Leader - with both patient leaders and industry members being recognized in each. Winners were announced during a virtual ceremony on Sept. 23, which can be viewed on-demand here.

The winners in the inaugural industry categories are:

• Best Use of Social Media to Engage Patients - #WhyITattoo, GlaxoSmithKline
• Most Authentic Use of Patients in a Marketing Campaign - More to MS, Janssen Pharmaceuticals
• Best Digital Patient Engagement Program - Akili Interactive
• Most Valuable Support or Access Program - Antidote Match
• Champion for Patient Collaboration - Vanita Sharma, Strongbridge Biopharma
• Patient Truth Industry Hero - Dr. Jennifer Arnold, Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital

"By advocating for patients, I have been fortunate to have my professional career be centered around amplifying the patient voice," said Vanita Sharma of Strongbridge Biopharma. "I have an unwavering commitment and passion for bringing the voice of the patient, especially those living with rare conditions, to the forefront. Receiving this award is the biggest honor of my career, and I am so humbled to have received this distinction as WEGO Health's Champion for Patient Collaboration."

The patient leader winners in each category were:

• Best in Show: Twitter - Michelle Munt, brain injury patient leader
• Best in Show: Youtube - Jo Beckwith, chronic pain patient leader
• Best in Show: TikTok - Ariana Covarrubias, chronic illness patient leader
• Best in Show: Podcast - Effie Parks, rare disease patient leader
• Best in Show: Instagram - Thomas Silvera, food allergy patient leader
• Best in Show: Facebook - Joel Nelson, arthritis patient leader
• Best in Show: Blog - Devin Garlit, multiple sclerosis patient leader
• Best in Show: Community - Kathy Reagan Young, multiple sclerosis patient leader
• Best Kept Secret - Sumaira Ahmed, neuromyelitis optica patient leader
• Hilarious Patient Leader - Damian Washington, multiple sclerosis patient leader
• Best Team Performance - Cancer Kids First, juvenile cancer advocacy group
• Rookie of the Year - Ashley Perkins, ADHD patient leader
• Advocating for Another - Sarita Edwards, rare disease patient leader
• Healthcare Collaborator - Michele Nadeem-Baker, chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient leader
• Lifetime Achievement - Ronny Allan, neuroendocrine tumor patient leader
• Patient Leader Hero - Shrenik Shah, vocal cord cancer patient leader

Judges for the program selected the winners from among 96 patient finalists and 20 industry finalists; the full list of this year's patient finalists can be found here. These finalists were culled down from more than 21,000 nominations in the patient categories and more than five dozen in the industry categories.

The patient leader categories were judged first by their patient peers to determine finalists, who were then assessed by nearly five dozen industry thought leaders to determine the winners. The industry categories were judged by nearly two dozen patient leaders, many of whom were previous WEGO Health Awards winners.

In addition to being announced and celebrated during the virtual event, winners will also be celebrated at 7 p.m. on Oct. 17, on stage at the 2021 HLTH event taking place in Boston. This will be the third year the WEGO Health Awards have partnered with HLTH and the first time since 2019 that winners will be celebrated in person. WEGO Health Awards sponsors HLTH, Outcomes4Me and HealthSparq have made it possible for winners to attend in person.

About the WEGO Health Awards
The WEGO Health Awards, created in 2011 to empower patient leaders and celebrate their accomplishments, is the only program to recognize patient leaders across all condition areas and platforms. For 10 years, the WEGO Health Awards have proven to be one of the best ways to honor, recognize, and celebrate the work of patient advocates, influencers and healthcare collaborators who are changing the patients' lives and transforming healthcare – often without any formal recognition.

About Health Union
Health Union , with the recent acquisition of WEGO Health, maintains the largest team of experts, patient advocates and healthcare leaders dedicated to social health. The company encourages social interactions that evolve into valuable online health conversations, helping people with chronic conditions find the information, connection, and validation they seek. Health Union does this by creating condition-specific online communities – publishing original, daily content and continuously cultivating social conversation – to support, educate and connect millions of people with challenging, chronic health concerns. The Health Union family of brands includes 36 online health communities, including LungCancer.net, ParkinsonsDisease.net, MultipleSclerosis.net and Migraine.com.

SOURCE Health Union

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