Event Details

25th Annual Drug-Free Kids Campaign Awards

Join us! Thursday, October 19, 2023, Riverview Ballroom – Gaylord National Hotel, National Harbor, MD
Reception: 6:00 PM
Dinner: 7:00 PM

Master of Ceremonies – Anita Brikman, President & CEO, Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association

Anita Brikman is the President and CEO of the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA), an organization representing more than 860 human plasma collection centers in North America and Europe, as well as the manufacturers of lifesaving plasma protein therapies.

Anita brings years of experience in communications, public affairs, advocacy and association leadership to PPTA, with a concentrated focus throughout her career on healthcare. Prior to joining PPTA, she fulfilled simultaneous positions as Senior Vice President, Communications & Public Affairs, at the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) and Executive Director of the CHPA Educational Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to promoting medicine safety. In both capacities, Anita acted as a national spokesperson across all press and publicity channels.

Previously, Anita led the communications team at the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). And for more than two decades prior to her association work, Brikman served as a news anchor and medical reporter for WUSA9 TV (CBS) in Washington, D.C. and WPVI TV (ABC) in Philadelphia.

Anita is a member of the Board of Directors for the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA). She has previously served as an honorary spokesperson for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in Washington, D.C. and the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk to benefit the American Cancer Society in Philadelphia.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications from Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, where she was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.

Invocation – Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, Archdiocese of Washington, DC

Musical Guest – Duke Ellington School of the Arts