Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, announced Dr. Belén Garijo has been appointed Vice Chairman of the Executive Board and Deputy CEO, effective immediately. She is currently CEO of Merck Healthcare and will continue to oversee corporate functions Human Resources and Environment, Health, Safety, Security, Quality as she takes on the role of the company’s Deputy CEO.
As a former practicing physician trained in internal medicine and clinical pharmacology, Dr. Garijo has expertise in a wide range of healthcare topics.
Under Dr. Garijo’s leadership, Merck is developing breakthrough treatments in oncology and immunotherapy, including trials of an investigational new drug application (IND) for M5049, a potential treatment for patients with COVID-19; promising new bladder cancer treatment Bavencio; and investigational bifunctional fusion protein immunotherapy Bintrafusp, which is currently in clinical development for multiple difficult-to-treat cancers.
Dr. Belén Garijo is a member of the Executive Board and CEO of Healthcare at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. She joined Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2011 as Chief Operating Officer of its Biopharma business, becoming President and CEO of Merck Healthcare in 2015.
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Prior to entering the pharmaceutical field, Dr. Garijo was a practicing physician at La Paz hospital in Madrid, Spain, where she trained in internal medicine and clinical pharmacology. Her firsthand experience at the provider-to-patient level helped her foster a lifelong focus on the human factor of healthcare and instilled a deep awareness of the often-invisible challenges linked to providing equitable access to medicine and care across all geographic and demographic boundaries.
As a former practicing physician, Dr. Garijo addresses her role as CEO of a healthcare business as she once approached the diagnosis of her patients: by focusing not just on the symptoms of a problem, but also striving to understand the underlying issues and complexities involved, in order to address the root cause and lead to truly sustainable success. She is passionate about driving the development of breakthrough innovations that will make a lasting positive impact on patients whose needs are yet unmet.
Before joining Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Dr. Garijo served as the Senior Vice President of Global Operations Europe at Sanofi-Aventis and Global Integration Leader of Genzyme after its acquisition by Sanofi. She previously held several local and global executive positions, both in R&D and commercial, at various companies at the forefront of the Healthcare sector. She serves as an Independent Director of the Board for L’Oréal S.A. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria S.A., and is a member of the Board for PhRMA (Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America).
Dr. Garijo became the first woman to lead a major biopharmaceutical company when she was appointed CEO in 2015.
Garijo was born in Almansa, Spain in 1960. She currently resides in Frankfurt Am Main, Germany, with her husband. She has two daughters.