Licensing Leadership: Meet Roger Pomerantz

Merck has announced the appointment of Roger Pomerantz, M.D., F.A.C.P., to senior vice president and head, Worldwide Licensing and Knowledge Management at Merck. Dr. Pomerantz previously held the position of senior vice president and global research franchise head, Infectious Diseases at Merck.

"Ensuring Merck has access to the best external science and capabilities remain critical to our success," said Luciano Rossetti, senior vice president and head, Global Scientific Strategy, Merck. "Roger has the skills, leadership and passion to succeed in this important role."

In his new role, Dr. Pomerantz will lead an organization tasked with identifying and securing access to external opportunities designed to build the very best R&D pipeline derived from internal and external sources as well as seeking innovative external science that complements the company's strong internal research and development.

"Merck has a proud history of successful scientific collaboration," said Dr. Pomerantz. I am excited about this new opportunity and look forward to building on this strong heritage."

See the IN VIVO interview with Roger.

About Roger Pomerantz

Previously, Dr. Pomerantz oversaw global scientific direction and strategy across drug discovery and development for the Infectious Diseases franchise, which includes all antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antiparasitic agents. Since Dr. Pomerantz joined Merck in 2010, the franchise advanced the first protease inhibitor marketed for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C infection, through U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval and launch.

Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Pomerantz served as global head of infectious diseases and president of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson focused on antibacterial research. From 2005-2010, he also served as president of Tibotec Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary focused on antiviral and tuberculosis research and development.

Dr. Pomerantz spent 15 years in academic medicine at Thomas Jefferson University and Medical School in Philadelphia as professor of Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, chief of Infectious Diseases and founding director and chair of the Institute for Research in Human Virology and Biodefense.

Dr. Pomerantz is a board-certified physician in both internal medicine and infectious diseases and is a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed articles on the clinical research, molecular pathogenesis and latency of HIV and other pathogenic human viruses.

Dr. Pomerantz received his B.S. in biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University and his M.D. from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and conducted post-doctoral training in molecular retrovirology at Harvard Medical School and the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Dr. David Baltimore.