SWITZERLAND- Fiona Marshall, a Merck executive, has been named president of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR)to succeed Jay Bradner.
James (Jay) E. Bradner, M.D., will step down from the Executive Committee of Novartis (ECN), effective October 31st after seven years of leading research at Novartis.
On November 1st, Marshall will begin serving as a senior vice president and global leader of MSD’s (Merck & Co. Inc) discovery sciences, preclinical development, and translational medicine departments.
Dr. Marshall will report to Vas Narasimhan, M.D., CEO of Novartis and become a member of the ECN.
Bradner said that leading NIBR had been a privilege for which he will forever be grateful and is so proud of the medicines they have imagined together.
He is confident that Fiona and Novartis leaders will continue the creative, productive, and important research to the definitive benefit of those with life-threatening diseases.
Vas Narasimhan said: “I am deeply grateful to Jay for his invaluable contributions to reimagining how we discover innovative medicines, recruiting world-class scientific leaders and expanding our collaborations with leading biotech companies and academic institutions.”
He wished Jay the very best in his future endeavors and is grateful he has agreed to assist with the transition.
Vas is delighted to welcome Fiona to Novartis. He praises her as both an esteemed biomedical scientist and an accomplished biopharmaceutical research leader.
He believes her deep passion for biomedical science makes her the ideal leader to help strengthen the innovation pipeline and advance future waves of high-value medicines at Norvatis.
Dr. Marshall was the founder and chief scientific officer of Heptares Therapeutics, a successful UK biotech business that was acquired by the Japanese biotech company Sosei, where she continued to hold those positions until joining Merck in 2018.
Dr. Marshall was the founder and chief scientific officer of Heptares Therapeutics, a successful UK biotech business that was acquired by the Japanese biotech company Sosei, where she continued to hold those positions until joining Merck in 2018.
Earlier in her career, Dr. Marshall held the posts of Director of Molecular Pharmacology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Senior Positions in Molecular Pharmacology and Neuroscience for 10 years at GSK.
In addition to the 2015 RSC Malcolm Campbell Award for Chemistry and the Vane Medal from the British Pharmacological Society, Dr. Marshall has also received the 2012 WISE Women of Outstanding Achievement for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award.
She is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, an Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
She noted that she is very excited to join Novartis and lead the discovery teams who are renowned for their collaborative research and use of cutting-edge technologies.
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