INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today Eli
Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) announced the five winners of the
inaugural Leonard Award, which commemorates the 100th
anniversary of the discovery of insulin by recognizing diverse
champions dedicated to advancing diabetes management. Lilly is
giving $20,000 in recognition of each
winner ($100,000 total) to Life for a
Child, a global non-profit organization that provides access to
care, education and lifesaving medicines and supplies to children
and young people with type 1 diabetes in resource-limited
countries.
The Leonard Award was inspired by the life of Leonard Thompson, the first person with diabetes
to be treated with insulin in 1922, and celebrates ongoing
achievements in the diabetes community. The 2021 Leonard Award
winners and their categories are:
- Teen/young adult: Drew
Mendelow of Gaithersburg,
Maryland, United States,
for work developing the T1D1 app, which helps people with diabetes
calculate and log key metrics and easily send data to their
diabetes care team.
- Advocate/advocacy professional: Sana Ajmal, PhD of Rawalpindi, Punjab,
Pakistan, for work as the founder
and executive director of Meethi Zingagi, a non-profit organization
that aims to improve the lives of people with diabetes.
- Endocrinologist/primary care physician: Giuseppina Chierici, MD of Milano, Italy, for work starting, "Portiamo a
casa un sorriso," a project that provides free medical home care
assistance and advice for people with diabetes in need.
- Diabetes educator/nurse: Vanita
Pais, RD, CDE of Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, for work on food skills programs and workshops for
children with type 1 diabetes.
- Researcher: James
Shapiro, MD, PhD of Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada, for work developing the Edmonton Protocol
for islet cell transplantation, which has been carried out more
than 700 times and aims to improve the care of people with
diabetes.
The winners from each category were selected by an external
judges' panel comprised of esteemed leaders in diabetes care. The
panel evaluated more than 70 submissions of an original project,
innovation or effort that addresses either an important need or
challenge in the management of diabetes or aims to support the
community.
"On this upcoming World Diabetes Day, and in honor of the
100th anniversary of the discovery of insulin, Lilly is
proud to present the inaugural Leonard Award to five exceptional
individuals within the diabetes community who are making strides to
advance diabetes management," said Leonard
Glass, MD, F.A.C.E., vice president of Lilly Diabetes Global
Medical Affairs and Leonard Award judge. "The strength of this
community comes from the dedication of those within who work to
make a positive impact on the lives of others, and we are honored
to recognize this outstanding group."
The Leonard Award external judges' panel included the
following:
- Tadej Battelino, MD, PhD, Consultant and Head of Department of
Pediatric and Adolescent Endocrinology, UMC Ljubljana
- Amalia Gastaldelli, Research Director, Institute of Clinical
Physiology, CNR
- Mariana Gomez, Director,
Emerging Markets, Beyond Type 1
- Irl B. Hirsch, MD, Professor of
Medicine, UW Medicine Diabetes Institute
- Nicole Johnson, DrPH, MPH, MA,
Vice President, Science & Health Care, American Diabetes
Association
- Sarah Linklater, PhD, Chief
Scientific Officer, JDRF Canada
- Kenneth P. Moritsugu, MD, MPH,
FACPM, RADM, USPHS (Retired)
- Anna Norton, MS, CEO,
DiabetesSisters
- Navnit (Niti) Kaur Pall, MD,
President, International Diabetes Federation Europe
- Leonard Glass, MD, F.A.C.E.,
Vice President, Lilly Diabetes Global Medical Affairs, Eli Lilly
and Company
The panel reviewed entries based on several criteria, including
impact, novelty, feasibility and ability to advance Lilly's mission
of life-changing care for people impacted by diabetes. In
recognition of the winning projects, Lilly will be giving
$100,000 total to Life for a
Child to help provide care for youth with diabetes around the
world.
"We are honored to be the beneficiary of the outstanding work
exhibited by the Leonard Award winners. I'm thankful for and
inspired by the outstanding efforts of these individuals and their
dedication to making a difference for people living with diabetes,"
said Dr. Graham Ogle, general
manager of Life for a Child. "This contribution from Lilly will
further support our mission of providing the best possible diabetes
care to children in less-resourced countries and will help build a
world where children with diabetes thrive no matter what situation
they are born into."
To learn more about the Leonard Award, the winning individuals
and their work, please visit Lilly.com/LeonardAward. Lilly plans to
continue the Leonard Award Program through 2023.
About Diabetes
Approximately 34 million
Americans1 (just over 1 in 10) and an estimated 463
million adults worldwide2 have diabetes. Type 2 diabetes
is the most common type internationally, accounting for an
estimated 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes cases in the United States alone2. Diabetes
is a chronic disease that occurs when the body does not properly
produce or use the hormone insulin.
About Lilly Diabetes
Lilly has been a global
leader in diabetes care since 1923, when we introduced the world's
first commercial insulin. Today we are building upon this heritage
by working to meet the diverse needs of people with diabetes and
those who care for them. Through research, collaboration and
quality manufacturing we strive to make life better for people
affected by diabetes and related conditions. We work to deliver
breakthrough outcomes through innovative solutions—from medicines
and technologies to support programs and more. For the latest
updates, visit http://www.lillydiabetes.com/ or follow us
on Twitter: @LillyDiabetes and
Facebook: LillyDiabetesUS.
About Eli Lilly and Company
Lilly is a
global health care leader that unites caring with discovery to
create medicines that make life better for people around the world.
We were founded more than a century ago by a man committed to
creating high-quality medicines that meet real needs, and today we
remain true to that mission in all our work. Across the
globe, Lilly employees work to discover and bring
life-changing medicines to those who need them, improve the
understanding and management of disease, and give back to
communities through philanthropy and volunteerism. To learn more
about Lilly, please visit us
at lilly.com and lilly.com/newsroom. P-LLY
Copyright © 2021 Eli Lilly and Company. All rights reserved.
Lilly Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release contains forward-looking
statements (as that term is defined in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995) about Lilly's Leonard Award,
including its objectives, selection criteria, nomination process,
intended donations, and related activities, and
reflects Lilly's current beliefs and expectations. There can
be no assurance that the Leonard Award will
achieve Lilly's objectives or that Lilly will execute its
strategy as planned. For further discussion of risks and
uncertainties relevant to Lilly's business, see Lilly's
Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by
law, Lilly undertakes no duty to update forward-looking
statements to reflect events after the date of this release.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes
Statistics Report, 2020. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human
Services; 2020.
- International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas, 9th
edn. Brussels, Belgium: International Diabetes
Federation, 2019. Available at: http://diabetesatlas.org.
Refer to: Becky Polston;
becky_polston@lilly.com; 317-796-1028 (Media)
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