Award Winner (Gordon Personeus Award) 2024: Marcia C Baroni

This honor is a recognition of a lifetime dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry, and being able to engage with, learn from and support fellow PDA members. A leader I admire used to say that you should move on not when you have learned everything there is to learn, but when you have taught everything you have to teach. I have spent the last 27 years in this industry learning and hopefully also teaching. It is tremendously rewarding to see that those efforts have made a positive impact.

I think I am now officially considered an “old-timer” in the industry, with more years behind me than ahead. But I hope that reflects the experience that I bring, and not a resistance in adopting the new. As a lifelong learner (and teacher) nothing could be further from the truth. I am hoping to continue to be involved and engaged in contributing to the design of the future of our industry.

To me, industry recognition is important because it places a brief spotlight on those that have engaged and given back to the industry, and in doing so encourages newer generations to follow the same path, get engaged, and leave their mark and their contribution. That is how the industry moves forward. I am excited to join the PDA Board and continue to engage with industry peers and regulators, nationally and internationally to help the industry navigate through the changing landscape and continuously improve. 

The world we live in is so chaotic, information is available almost instantly, and it is so often sensational and filled with tragedy. Although it is hard to have hope and be inspired, what helps me are little things: small random acts of kindness, people who help someone else not because there is something in it for them, but just to help. Changing the world by helping one person, saving one animal, planting one tree, one step at a time. I am humbled and grounded, inspired every day determined to do whatever I can to help make a difference, to drive change.