2025 Bioanalysis Outstanding Contribution Award: meet the judges

Benjamin C. Orsburn
Assistant Professor & BOSCA 2023 winner
University of Pittsburgh (PA, USA)

Ben is an established expert in translational mass spectrometry, most recently as an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. He previously worked as a Principal Investigator at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (MD, USA). His research is centered on applying high-throughput and single-cell proteomics/multi-omics as tools to understand heterogeneity in drug response and adaptation. He is best known for his attempts to make proteomics accessible to a wide audience through the News In Proteomics Research blog and the US Human Proteomics Organization-sponsored podcast, THE Proteomics show. Ben is also the winner of the 2023 BOSCA Award.

Priyata Kalra
Senior Scientist
Simulations Plus Inc. (CA, USA)

Priyata Kalra is a Senior Scientist in the Simulation Technologies R&D team for the PBPK business unit at Simulations Plus. She leads the Read-Across PBPK project for chemicals and the FDA project for building the IVIVE approach to predict the mucosal permeability of oral cavity drug products alongside supporting software development. Priyata also serves as an Expert Modeller on the European ECETOC Staged Assessment Taskforce and on the European Commission Designathon (both Brussels, Belgium). Prior to joining Simulations Plus, she worked for 3 years at Bayer and BASF (Leverkusen and Ludwigshafen, Germany) on PBPK and quantitative systems pharmacology, for both small molecules and biologics, and IVIVE approaches in drug efficacy and toxicology. She earned her PhD from the University of Heidelberg (Germany) where she worked with Bayer Pharmaceuticals, focusing on quantitative systems pharmacology models of biologics.

A passionate innovator at the intersection of machine learning, mathematics and biomedicine, Priyata aspires to bridge gaps between these disciplines. She leverages her multidisciplinary expertise to integrate ML/AI approaches with PBPK modeling as new approach methodologies for reducing animal studies. Her interests span data science, systems pharmacology, machine learning, design, crop science, blockchain and entrepreneurship.

Tim Sangster
Executive Director of Bioanalytical Operations
Resolian (Fordham, UK)

Tim is a well-travelled, experienced transformational executive who has led and expanded departments for the past 30 years. A well-rounded bioanalytical specialist with strong regulatory experience supporting pharmaceutical development, with a range of other areas of research throughout his career, giving a wide range of experience and knowledge.

Fostering a culture of inclusiveness and support has led to his great success so far. The biggest achievements to date are measured by the many other great scientists that he has had the great pleasure to give support to and learn from along the way. Coaching and mentoring have always been key drivers for him and also some of his proudest achievements.

Seema Kumar
Senior Director
Pioneering Medicines (MA, USA)

Seema Kumar, Ph.D., is the Senior Director at Pioneering Medicines, the internal R&D unit within Flagship Pioneering (both MA, USA). In this role, she leads the DMPK and Bioanalytical function, providing comprehensive drug disposition support across a range of therapeutic modalities, from early discovery through clinical development. Before joining Pioneering Medicines, Dr. Kumar served as a Senior DMPK Lead and Director at EMD Serono Inc. (a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Germany), where she led the Clinical Bioanalytical Sciences group. In that role, she managed DMPK, bioanalytical, and immunogenicity support for preclinical and clinical programs focused on novel biologics and antibody-drug conjugates. Earlier, she led the regulated bioanalytical group at Pfizer (NY, USA) and held senior leadership roles at XBiotech USA, Inc., (TX, USA), including Director of Quality Control and Director of a CLIA-certified Clinical Bioanalytical Laboratory.

Dr. Kumar holds a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University and has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications. She has also contributed as a book editor and chapter author. A frequent speaker at national and international scientific forums, she is actively engaged in professional organizations such as AAPS (VA, USA) and The Boston Society (MA, USA). She also serves as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Cincinnati (OH, USA).

Previous judging panels

2023 Bioanalysis Outstanding Contribution Award judges panel

2021 Bioanalysis Outstanding Contribution Award judges panel

2019 Bioanalysis Outstanding Contribution Award judges panel