BOSTON, Mass., Oct 18, 2018 –WEGO Health, the world’s largest network of patient thought leaders and health influencers, today announced the winners of its seventh annual WEGO Health Awards at a live ceremony held in conjunction with the 2018 Connected Health Conference in Boston. The WEGO Health Awards honor patient leaders who are nominated by their peers in fifteen categories, including Best in Show across social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
For the first time, this year’s recipients will be honored at the annual Connected Health Conference, a premier international event convened by HIMSS Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHA) to foster the exchange of ideas and innovations in personal connected health. The conference brings together more than 2,500 healthcare providers, tech innovators, life sciences companies, investors and forward-thinking companies in a region known as hub of healthcare and innovation.
The WEGO Health Awards will be announced by distinguished members of the connected health community, including Sarah Krug, Executive Director of Cancer101; Joseph Kvedar, MD, Vice President of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare; Jan Oldenburg, author of Participatory Healthcare: A Person Centered Approach to Healthcare Transformation; Danny Sands, MD, MPH, Co-founder of Society for Participatory Medicine; John Sharp, Senior Manager at PCHA; and Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA , Chief Innovation Officer, UPMC and Executive Vice President, UPMC Enterprises.
“It’s deeply gratifying to see patient thought leaders recognized from the main stage at an industry conference focused on balancing technology and the human element in healthcare,” said Jack Barrette, Founder and CEO of WEGO Health. “Our WEGO Health Award winners play an outsized role in supporting other patients with complex health challenges, while at the same time helping the healthcare industry deliver on its long-held promise of improving the patient experience through human-centered design and innovation.”
The WEGO Health Awards is the only crowdsourced awards program that recognizes the efforts of patient advocates, influencers and thought leaders in healthcare. The WEGO Health Awards were initiated to recognize and celebrate those who share WEGO Health’s mission to elevate the voice, reach and impact of patient leaders. WEGO Health received more than 4,300 nominations globally, with over 30,000 endorsements. Fifteen winners were eventually selected from among 80 finalists. A sixteenth award was added in 2017 to recognize a healthcare company in a new category called Healthcare Collaborator.
The 2018 distinguished class of WEGO Health Award recipients includes:
- Advocating for Another – Chrisa Hickey
- Best In Show: Blog – Ronnie Allan
- Best In Show: Community/Forum – Lee Good
- Best In Show: Facebook – Kristal Kent @ The Fibromyalgia Pain Chronicles
- Best In Show: Instagram – @anxietysupport
- Best In Show: Twitter – Ashley Levinson, @PCOSgurl, PCOS Awareness Advocate
- Best In Show: Podcast – Sickboy Podcast
- Best In Show: YouTube – CHECK 15
- Best Kept Secret –Amber Wallace/Ostomy Diaries
- Best Team Performance – Beth Francis and Andy Clark| 100 Days of Vitamin Sea
- Healthcare Collaborator: Company – ViiV Healthcare
- Healthcare Collaborator: Patient – Amanda Greene
- Hilarious Patient Leader – Justin Birckbichler | A Ballsy Sense of Tumor
- Lifetime Achievement – Natalie Y. Beavers
- Patient Leader Hero – Kristal Kent @ The Fibromyalgia Pain Chronicles
- Rookie of the Year – Efstathia Koliopoulos
About WEGO Health
WEGO Health is a mission-driven company connecting the healthcare industry with the experience, skills and insights of patient thought leaders, subject matter experts and health influencers. The company has built a network of more than 100,000 patient leaders, representing virtually every health condition and interest. Since its founding in 2007, WEGO Health has helped hundreds of leading life sciences companies, agencies, consultancies, startups and nonprofit research foundations across the healthcare industry. The company’s enterprise and on-demand solutions enable organizations to leverage patient expertise in the design, development and promotion of their products and services.
