NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WebMD Health
Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD), the leading source of health information,
celebrated the accomplishments of five extraordinary individuals
who are meeting health and medical challenges head-on and effecting
change through their insights, courage, and perseverance last night
during its annual Health Hero Awards Gala in New York City.
After brief remarks from WebMD's Chief Executive Officer, Dr.
Steve Zatz, Good Morning
America co-anchor Robin Roberts,
the host of the Awards Gala for the third straight year, shared her
perspective on the significance of WebMD's Health Hero Awards, as
well as a few stories before kicking-off the Awards
presentation.
For a recap and to learn more about this year's winners of
the WebMD Health Hero Awards Gala, visit
www.webmd.com/healthheroes.
For images from the evening visit:
http://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/nicePath/gyipa_public?nav=pr479972240
The 2016 WebMD Health Hero Award recipients are:
Seth and Lauren Miller Rogen --
People's Choice
Entertainers Seth Rogen and
Lauren Miller Rogen together created
Hilarity for Charity, an annual celebrity-packed variety show in
Los Angeles that raises money to
help fund Alzheimer's research. They've brought in more than
$6.5 million since they started in
2012 and have helped fund over 80,000 hours of free in home care.
But they didn't stop there: The pair extended the concept to the
college crowd with HFC U, which helps students host similar events
on campus.
Ed Damiano, PhD -- Scientist
Ed Damiano, a biomedical engineering
professor at Boston University, brought
his work home with him when his son, David, was diagnosed with type
1 diabetes at 11 months old. Insulin pumps and other tools couldn't
keep David's blood sugar under control, so Damiano set out to
design something that would. The result: a bionic pancreas that's
in clinical trials now and could hit the market by 2018.
Betty Ferrell, RN, PhD --
Advocate
When the concept of palliative care emerged in the 1990s,
Betty Ferrell was an early adopter.
Now she's developing a curriculum to teach it in every nursing
school in the United States. Her
pioneering efforts were recognized by the American Academy of
Hospice and Palliative Medicine, which named her one of 30
Visionaries in the field.
Trisha Prabhu -- Prodigy
Upset by the effects of cyberbullying, this high school student
developed at the age of 13 a smartphone app, ReThink, to help teens
pause -- and maybe stop -- before they post mean thoughts online.
It works more than 90 percent of the time. Since it went live,
Prabhu's given TED talks and presented it at both the Google and
White House Science Fairs.
"For each of the last 10 years we've been sharing our Health
Heroes' stories and spotlighting their accomplishments in the pages
of WebMD Magazine, on our site, and for the last three years
hosting this event," said WebMD CEO, Steve Zatz.
"The concept of Health Heroes is one that's both simple and
yet quite profound. It is built on the premise that all of
us—whatever our background—can take our stories, our concerns, our
passions, and our personal strengths and use them to improve the
lives of others," Robin Roberts,
host of WebMD Health Heroes.
"But seriously though, thank you so very much for this
award. We started Hilarity for Charity 5 years ago to honor
my mom who is my hero," said Lauren
Miller Rogen (winner, alongside Seth
Rogen, of the 2016 WebMD People's Choice Award).
The event featured live appearances by David Krumholtz, Maureen
McCormick, Adam Savage, and
Sarah Wynter, as well as a message
from Sonequa Martin-Green.
Attendees at the annual gala were treated to inspired musical
performances from Naturally 7, who opened the show with a cappella
performances of The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and
Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight,"
and GRAMMY® winners A Great Big World, who performed hits
including "This is the New Year," "Won't Stop Running" and "Say
Something." At the conclusion of the awards ceremony, The
Dolls unleashed their unique blend of DJing and live string
accompaniment on the crowd.
Each WebMD Health Hero received a $10,000 donation from WebMD to the charitable
cause of his or her choice and will be featured in the
November/December issue of WebMD Magazine. This year's
WebMD Health Hero Awards Gala was presented by Cancer Treatment
Centers of America® (cancercenter.com).
To read more about WebMD's Health Heroes or to learn more about
the Awards Gala produced by Scott Mauro Entertainment, Inc., please
visit www.webmd.com/healthheroes.
Additional images and video available upon request.
About WebMD
WebMD Health Corp. (NASDAQ: WBMD) is the leading provider of
health information services, serving consumers, physicians,
healthcare professionals, employers, and health plans through our
public and private online portals, mobile platforms and
health-focused publications. The WebMD Health Network includes
WebMD.com, Medscape.com, MedicineNet.com, eMedicineHealth.com,
RxList.com, Medscape Education (Medscape.org) and other WebMD owned
sites and apps.
WebMD®, Medscape®, CME Circle®, Medpulse®, eMedicine®,
MedicineNet®, theheart.org® and RxList® are among the trademarks of
WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.
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SOURCE WebMD Health Corp.