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©2023 American Medical Writers Association. All rights reserved.  
ISSN 2163-5315

AMWAJournal.org     43

the pandemic, he was 
instrumental in helping 
the chapter transition to 
Zoom meetings for net-
working events, and he 
and the other attendees 
learned how to use the 
breakout room feature 
together. At the Delaware 
Valley’s in-person chap-
ter conference this year, 
Don organized a panel 
discussion on training 
the next generation of medical writers. Don has also served 
on several committees at the national level, including the 
certification task force.
 When I reached out to Don to congratulate him on 
receiving this award, he said, “I would just like to remind 
readers (including myself!) of what we already know: 
AMWA is a wonderful, well-built organization, and its 
future will be what we make it. Our profession depends on 
people helping people, and not always in ways that yield 
direct financial benefits. If we give generously, AMWA will 
gain strength, and we will all benefit. If we withhold our 
gifts, AMWA will weaken, and we will all suffer. So, let’s all 
encourage each other to keep volunteering and giving back 
to our profession through AMWA. We’ll be glad we did!”
 I couldn’t agree more. Thank you, Don, for your passion 
for CME, your expertise, and your support of AMWA.
 It is my pleasure to present Don with this well-deserved 
honor for his contributions to AMWA and to the medical 
writing and editing profession at large. Please join me in 
congratulating Don as this year’s President’s Award  
recipient.

AMWA NEWS

2023 President’s Award Recipient
Don Harting, MA, MS, ELS, CHCP
Elise Eller, PhD  / 2022-2023 AMWA President

The recipient of the President’s Award is selected by the 
AMWA President, and each year this award is bestowed 
upon a member of AMWA who has made distinctive contri-
butions to the association at the chapter or national level.

I am honored to recognize Don Harting, MA, MS, ELS, 
CHCP, as the recipient of the 2023 AMWA President’s 
Award. Don is a professional medical writer with mas-
ter’s degrees in journalism and biology, 20 years of expe-
rience in print journalism, and 15 years of experience in 
continuing medical education (CME) writing. He is also a 
board-certified editor in the life sciences (ELS) and a cer-
tified health care CPD professional (CHCP). Don is the 
president of Harting Communications LLC and specializes 
in developing needs assessments for education grant pro-
posals and instructional content for accredited continu-
ing education in the health professions. Since 2008, he has 
worked with many accredited CME providers as well as 
nonaccredited medical education companies to win more 
than $4.8 million in education grants, mostly in oncology.
 A dedicated CME professional, Don has published orig-
inal, collaborative research on best practices for writing 
needs assessments and shared his results in the AMWA 
Journal and as posters, workshops, and a mini-tutorial for 
AMWA members. Currently, Don and several collabora-
tors are developing the first-ever competency model for 
the next generation of medical writers who wish to excel 
in developing content for continuing education in the 
health professions. The new CME writers’ competency 
model will be presented at this year’s Medical Writing & 
Communication Conference in Baltimore.
 A member of AMWA since 2007, Don has been involved 
in the Delaware Valley Chapter in a variety of roles and 
currently serves as programs chair. He notes that during 

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