Workplace Gender Parity Advocates Named for Top Healthcare Industry Awards

TBWAWorldHealth’s Sharon Callahan, Lundbeck’s Peter Anastasiou and PharmaVOICE’s Taren Grom Announced as HBA’s 2019 Honorees

FAIRFIELD, NJ (8 January, 2019) – The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) announced the 2019 Woman of the Year, Honorable Mentor and STAR award honourees last night during a reception at the industry’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The honorees will be recognised and join the ranks of previous distinguished honourees at the HBA’s 30th annual Woman of the Year event on 9 May in New York City.

Sharon Callahan, CEO, TBWAWorldHealth, and chief client officer, Omnicom Health Group, has been selected as the 2019 Woman of the Year. Peter Anastasiou, executive vice president, head of Lundbeck North America, is the recipient of the Honorable Mentor award. Taren Grom, co-founder and editor-in-chief, PharmaVOICE magazine, is recognised with the Strategic Transformation Achievement Recognition (STAR).

“With women’s workplace issues a critical industry focus—and still drawing global media attention—the HBA is extremely proud to award and showcase Sharon, Peter and Taren for their valuable contributions to advancing gender parity in the workplace”, said Laurie P. Cooke, president and CEO, HBA. “This year’s honoured industry thought leaders exemplify the very core mission of the HBA through their dedication and inspiration to make the industry workplace a far more equitable culture for all.”

The HBA Woman of the Year award honours a female senior executive whose accomplishments have resulted in significant contributions to the healthcare industry. With a healthcare marketing career that spans more than 30 years, Sharon Callahan is a highly influential and inspirational female leader who has advocated for the rights of women and for diversity and gender parity both personally and professionally.

In the workplace, Callahan has played an instrumental role in championing diversity and inclusion. Working across Omnicom, the parent company of TBWAWorldHealth, Callahan is a founding board member of both Omniwomen, which aims to increase the number of women in leadership positions, and OPEN Pride, which fosters an inclusive and engaging work environment for Omnicom’s LGBTQ community and its allies. Her support for the advancement of women is clearly seen within TBWAWorldHealth, with nearly 60 percent of senior leadership roles held by women. Outside of work, Callahan serves as vice-chair for the Victory Fund, which seeks to increase the number of openly LGBTQ officials at all levels of government. She also sits on the boards of the Arthritis Foundation and Women Against Alzheimer’s.

Callahan’s professional achievements have been recognised with awards including the Highest Leaf Award by the Women’s Venture Fund (2014) and Medical Advertising News Person of the Year (2018). She currently sits on the board of the Medical Advertising Hall of Fame, and serves on the executive committee for the Coalition for Healthcare Communications and the government relations committee for the 4A’s. She is also deeply committed to the HBA’s mission; she sat on the HBA New York/New Jersey region’s advisory board; served as global board president in 1997 and was recognised as the STAR in 2006.

Created in 2001, the Honorable Mentor award recognises an individual who demonstrates long-term support for the advancement of women in the healthcare industry, has a personal dedication to developing, mentoring and promoting women in the industry, and who has been supportive of the HBA’s goals. As the executive vice president and head of Lundbeck North America, Peter Anastasiou is well-known and respected as a diligent mentor to women and a leader who promotes and supports gender parity throughout his organisation. Serving on the HBA’s global advisory board, he has helped develop strategy to guide the future direction of the HBA. At Lundbeck, he was instrumental in increasing female representation on the North American leadership team and helped to transform company’s leadership-development programs, including opening up access to HBA course offerings and encouraging women leaders to reach their full potential.

For the last 19 years, the HBA has honoured a volunteer who stands apart as a truly exemplary role model and who has demonstrated a long-term commitment to furthering the HBA’s strategic goals with the Strategic Transformation Achievement Recognition (STAR). For more than a decade, Taren Grom has been a dedicated HBA volunteer serving on the global board of directors, and on multiple committees, including those responsible for the Annual Conference, Woman of the Year event, the Gender Parity Collaborative and the Executive Women’s Forum. She won the prestigious HBA President’s Award in 2013. Grom is co-founder and editor-in-chief of PharmaVOICE magazine, a multi-media company that publishes the PharmaVOICE 100—the one industry publication that recognises leaders throughout the entire life-sciences ecosystem.

The Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) is a global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to furthering the advancement and impact of women in the business of healthcare. With 45 chapters and affiliates throughout the United States and Europe, the HBA serves a community of nearly 50,000 individuals and more than 130 corporate partners. The HBA provides networking forums to build relationships; access to industry thought leaders to broaden perspective; educational programs to develop leadership skills and global recognition of outstanding women and companies to promote visibility of their achievements in advancing gender parity in the workplace.

For more information about HBA’s Woman of the Year, Honorable Mentor, STAR and other award programs, visit HBAnet.org/awards.