The finalists for WashingtonExec’s Pinnacle Awards were announced Oct. 11, and we’ll be highlighting some of them until the event takes place live, in-person Nov. 30.
Next is Healthcare Industry Executive of the Year (Public Company) finalist Roman Salasznyk, who’s a senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton overseeing its life science practice. Here, he talks key achievements, primary focus areas going forward, proud career moments and more.
What key achievements did you have in 2021 / 2022?
As a leader in Booz Allen’s civil health and life sciences businesses, I am very passionate about working with federal health agencies to deliver enabling technologies and capabilities aimed to accelerate research and deliver better health outcomes. To this end, I lead a large, multidisciplinary team delivering information technology, artificial intelligence, cyber, cloud, life sciences and management consulting services across the Health and Human Services Department with an eye towards enhancing public health and well-being of all Americans.
My key achievements in 2021-2022 were providing senior oversight over a record-breaking $575 million+ portfolio that included delivering solutions that fostered biomedical innovation, facilitated product research, supported disease surveillance and the nation’s COVID-19 response, expedited the review and approval of life-saving medical products, and improved mission performance.
What has made you successful in your current role?
There are three factors that have made me successful in my current role:
- Working with talented, cross-functional, and world class teams to transform the health care ecosystem: Our team of technologists, data and regulatory scientists, cloud and cyber engineers, and general management consultants have empowered our federal health clients to accelerate advancements across the scientific research enterprise, make life-saving treatments and devices more accessible, and deliver best-in-class capabilities to drive transformational solutions to support their mission needs.
- Building lasting relationships with my government clients and partner/vendor communities built on trust, performance and service: Success in the GovCon industry is tied to building relationships that cultivate portfolio growth, establish trusted partnerships, and result in differentiated services and solutions that address an important technology, data, and operational needs.
- Passionate desire to support our client’s most pressing challenges and needs: Given the ever-increasing demand to address immediate and evolving needs by our clients’ internal and external stakeholders, you need to have endless energy, take initiative, and go above in beyond to address mission-critical demands entrusted by clients.
What are you most proud of having been a part of in your current organization?
During the pandemic, Booz Allen worked with partners across HHS and the military health ecosystem to play a critical role in the nation’s response to COVID-19. Specifically, we supported the development and deployment of medical countermeasures (i.e., diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines); helped facilitate patient recruitment for enrollment in COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials; provided digital communications to the American public and scientific/clinical communities to help make informed decisions regarding patient care and research; and supported the IT/data systems that enable regulatory actions/approvals for diagnostic tests, products and devices.
What are your primary focus areas going forward, and why are those so important to the future of the nation?
Revolutionary advances in technology, artificial intelligence and the life sciences now make the prospect of truly personalized health care a reality. To seize the moment and realize the resulting new possibilities, U.S. public health agencies must act quickly to modernize their technology stacks, securely bridge information siloes and upskill their workforces.
Moving forward, my team and I will continue to play a leading role in developing capabilities and tools to fully capitalize on this new ecosystem to improve disease prevention, detection, diagnosis and survivorship. For example, in the National Cancer Institute’s Clinical Trials Reporting Program, Booz Allen focused on capturing information across the cancer research ecosystem to improve clinical trial search prioritization and matching of patients to trials through lead-edge capabilities.