Professional Award in Chemical Engineering goes to Alwardt

By Holly Hinson

Dr. Sarah Alwardt

Dr. Sarah Alwardt has been awarded the 2021 Alumni Professional Award for Chemical Engineering. She holds Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Chemical Engineering and a Certificate in Environmental Engineering all from University of Louisville J.B. Speed School of Engineering. Alwardt has also served as a post-doctoral researcher and was an adjunct chemical engineering professor at the school for two years.

In her early career, Alwardt spent five years at Givaudan and four years at Brown-Forman leading process development and translating manufacturing processes from the lab to the plant. She completed her next ten years at Humana, where she held increasingly responsible leadership roles in research, program, and process development.

Speed School prepared me for success in so many ways,” said Alwardt.  “I was taught two very important lessons: how to solve problems and where to find answers,” she said. I was taught that the best answers came from diverse groups coming from different directions to a common goal.”

Alwardt also said her Speed School classmates were inspirational. “I remember being surrounded by brilliant people who were motivated and hungry to learn and do more. I have not kept up with all of them, but know that some are physicians, practicing engineers, business leaders, etc.  We were all given a strong foundation to go so many places.”

In her current role, Alwardt leads the talented associates of Ontada’s Market Insights and Real World Research organizations as a vice-president at McKesson. With domestic and international experience in health economics and outcomes research, Alwardt has proven success in organizational transformation, business acceleration, associate engagement, and delivering data driven insights and evidence. She is an accomplished author and speaker, having published and presented several works in the international flavors and fragrance industry, real world evidence application, and rapid analytics. She holds multiple patents for her work on the removal of pesticides from citrus oils.

She is currently a member of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi.