Rising Star Awards | Read Press Release
The Rising Star Award is being awarded for the first time this year. The award honors those who exhibit excellent potential and who has demonstrated remarkable talents at an early stage in their food and drug law career.
2023 Winners

Abraham Gitterman | Read Bio
Senior Associate, Arnold & Porter
Biography
ABRAHAM GITTERMAN focuses on FDA and healthcare regulatory, compliance, and fraud and abuse matters involving pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. He regularly counsels clients on FDA-regulated advertising and promotion, scientific exchange and compliant medical affairs activities, FDAMA 114 and health care economic information, digital health, social media, continuing medical education, interactions with healthcare professionals, product development and lifecycle management, and the Drug Supply Chain Security Act. Mr. Gitterman also assists with the creation, design, implementation and review of corporate compliance programs, both generally and pursuant to Corporate Integrity Agreements with OIG. Mr. Gitterman works closely with drug and device manufacturers regarding market access and patient support programs pre- and post-approval including reimbursement support, field reimbursement managers, and patient financial assistance programs. Mr. Gitterman also has extensive experience counseling clients on the Physician Payments Sunshine Act and related state transparency and “gift ban” laws. Throughout his career, Mr. Gitterman has been seconded to numerous life sciences companies and served on many promotional and medical review committees, allowing him to specialize in the FDA regulatory and healthcare compliance needs of commercial and medical teams.

Schevon Salmon | Read Bio
Director, Corporate Counsel, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical
Biography
SCHEVON SALMON is a Director, Corporate Counsel, at Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc. (U.S.), where he provides strategic guidance to domestic and global business teams on a broad range of regulatory and transactional matters, including product commercialization and technical operations.
Prior to joining Otsuka, Schevon practiced Food and Drug regulatory law at a boutique Food and Drug law firm, where he regularly advised cosmetic, drug, medical device, and tobacco product firms regarding rules and regulations before the Food and Drug Administration, Customs and Border Protection, and the Federal Trade Commission. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law where he also obtained a Healthcare Law Certificate and the University of Florida where he studied East Asian Language & Literature: Japanese.
When not at work or volunteering, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his wife and two children.

Sarah Thompson Schick | Read Bio Counsel, Reed Smith
Biography
SARAH THOMPSON SCHICK advises medical products companies developing and manufacturing pharmaceuticals, biologics, and medical devices on issues where FDA regulatory and compliance matters intersect with strategic business decision-making. Sarah specifically focuses on providing FDA regulatory and compliance counsel to medical products clients on a variety of matters, including Good Clinical Practice and clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, medical communications and health care economic information, Good Manufacturing Practice (drugs and medical devices), advertising and promotion, patient support programs, and ClinicalTrials.gov registration and reporting. She has also written and spoken extensively on clinical trial modernization and diversity, in addition to the implications of the recent Omnibus Bill and current draft FDA guidance. Sarah spends the majority of her practice advising on product development and approval, contractual matters, compliance programming, and risk management. She also has experience handling regulatory issues in the context of corporate transactions, securities disclosures, and litigation. Sarah previously served as in-house counsel for a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company and also gained hands-on experience working in the legal department for a large hospital system in Texas.