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Award Winner (Service Appreciation Award) 2023: Jim Polarine Jr., MA

Jim Polarine Jr., MA

STERIS Corporation

I was inspired to get involved with PDA with the excellent opportunities to network and learn the latest advances and regulations in the BioPharma and Medical Device industries. I have been an active PDA member since 2001. I have enjoyed getting involved with interest groups, technical reports, points to consider, and reviewing PDA journal articles while being an active PDA member. I was honored to receive mentoring and guidance from Richard Johnson and Georg Roessling while at PDA. I won the prestigious Michael S. Korczynski Award in 2019 and since then I was elected to the PDA Scientific Advisory Board in July of 2023.

I have had a great opportunity to advance my skills, expertise, and scientific knowledge while teaching courses at PDA’s TRI location and by teaching cleaning and disinfection at PDA’s Aseptic Processing Training Course for several years. It has been very fulfilling working with Dave Talmage to bring PDA’s Aseptic Training Course to Kansas City for the past five years and to have the course sold out each year. I have also been involved with PDA as the Chapter Council Co-Chair in 2024 and I am on all the PDA interest group calls.

I have had a very fulfilling twenty-three years of experience at PDA. It has provided me with a place to both gain and share the knowledge I have developed while working at STERIS with customers across the industry. I especially enjoyed being able to mentor and sponsor a young professional at the PDA Annual Meeting in 2023. The rewarding experience has really come full circle as I have served as the PDA Missouri Valley Chapter President for the past four years and I have been able to expand my horizons in leadership, mentoring, and coaching. I have been able to work with Brianna Heck from STERIS while on our Board and she has gone on to be Secretary of our PDA Missouri Valley Chapter. It is a great honor to receive the PDA Service Appreciation Award in 2024.

About Jim Polarine Jr., MA

Mr. Polarine is a senior technical service manager at STERIS Corporation. He has been with STERIS Corporation for twenty-three years. His current technical focus is microbial control in cleanrooms and other critical environments.

Mr. Polarine is a 2019 PDA Michael S. Korczynski Award recipient. He is active on the prestigious PDA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). He is active on the PDA’s COVID-19 Task Force. He was a co-author on PDA’s Technical Report #70 on Cleaning and Disinfection and Technical Report #88 on Microbial Deviations. Mr. Polarine currently teaches the cleaning and disinfection course as part of the PDA Aseptic Processing Course, IEST, and at the University of Tennessee Parenteral Medications Course. Mr. Polarine is the current President for the PDA Missouri Valley Chapter and Vice President of Membership for the IEST. Mr. Polarine graduated from the University of Illinois with a Master of Arts in Biology. He previously worked as a clinical research manager with the Department of Veterans Affairs in St. Louis, MO and as a biology and microbiology instructor at the University of Illinois. His main hobby is storm chasing and is very active in tornado research and tornado safety.