P. Roy Vagelos

Last updated

Roy Vagelos
P. Roy Vagelos JPS 2005 03 10 crop.TIF
Born
Pindaros Roy Vagelos

(1929-10-08) October 8, 1929 (age 94)
Westfield, New Jersey
Education University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (M.D.)
SpouseDiana Vagelos
Awards Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry (1967)
Maxwell Finland Award (1991)
Prince Mahidol Award (1997)
Scientific career
Fields Biochemistry, Medicine, Pharmaceutical industry

Pindaros Roy Vagelos (born October 8, 1929, in Westfield, New Jersey) is an American physician and business executive, who was president and chief executive officer (1985) and chairman (1986) of the American pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside the U.S.).

Contents

Since 1995, Vagelos has served as chairman of the board of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

He was founding chair of the Prix Galien USA awards committee (from 2007 to 2017) and was the first recipient of the Galien Foundation's Pro Bono Humanum Award, which in 2018 was renamed in his honor to the Roy Vagelos Pro Bono Humanum Award for Global Health Equity. [1]

In addition to his business accomplishments, Vagelos is the author of more than 100 scientific papers. [2] He is also on the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and has funded three of the university's elite undergraduate programs: The Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences (MLS), The Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management (LSM) and The Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research (VIPER).

Biography

Vagelos grew up during the Depression as a son of Greek immigrants. He attended Rahway High School in his hometown of Rahway, New Jersey. [3] After winning a partial scholarship, he left his family's small restaurant in Rahway, to become a doctor. [4] He majored in chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1950. Vagelos later earned an M.D. from Columbia University in 1954. [5]

Vagelos deferred military service while in medical school, but he was obligated to serve a two-year stint as an Army doctor. As a Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons trained physician, Vagelos obtained a two-year assignment as a scientist at the National Institutes of Health (1956–1966). For Vagelos, it was a fateful turning point. He was associated with Massachusetts General Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis [6] and the Washington University School of Medicine(1966–1975) [7] before joining Merck, Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories in Rahway. He was promoted to CEO (in 1985) and Chairman (1986), succeeding John J. Horan. [8] He retired from Merck in 1994. [8]

Vagelos has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.

In 1995, Vagelos received the NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society and was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. In 1999, he became a recipient of both the Bower Award for Business Leadership, as well as the Othmer Gold Medal. [9] [10]

In 2013, Vagelos was invited to speak at the first annual Stony Brook University Research Your Future Symposium.

River blindness

In the mid-1980s, Merck & Co. discovered the drug ivermectin, capable of combatting the parasite that causes river blindness. At the time, the World Health Organization and the World Bank were conducting a campaign against the vector-borne disease in West Africa, and ivermectin was the most important drug in their arsenal. But the newly discovered drug was too expensive for those patients or their governments. Vagelos "wanted to see the drug widely used," so he influenced Merck & Co. to "make needed quantities of the drug available to these governments and patients, at no cost to them, for the treatment of onchocerciasis.” Over two decades, beginning in 1986, the drug reached more than 55 million people. The public health campaign was successful, and now river blindness is no longer a major public health issue in the savannah areas of West Africa. [11]

Philanthropy

Together, Roy Vagelos and his wife Diana Vagelos donated over $98.5 million to the University of Pennsylvania to create the Roy and Diana Vagelos Laboratories. These funds also made possible the founding the Vagelos Scholars Program in Molecular Life Sciences, an intensive program offered to University of Pennsylvania freshmen. In addition, they donated funds to launch the Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management, a joint program between the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and its College of Arts and Sciences. Later, they founded the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research, supporting the necessity of energy research. Altogether Vagelos and his wife have donated $239 million to the University of Pennsylvania. [12]

In 2010, Vagelos, who had earned his medical degree at Columbia University, and Diana, an alumna of Barnard College at Columbia University, donated 50 million dollars to the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons, towards the construction of a new building named the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center; it opened in August 2016. [13]

In 2017, it was announced at the Crown Awards that the College of Physicians and Surgeons would be renamed the Columbia University Roy and Diana Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons in recognition of a $250 million gift given by Vagelos to the college. [14] A substantial part of the donation ($150 million) would be used to endow a fund that will help eliminate student loans for medical students who qualify for financial aid. Altogether, the Vageloses have been responsible for about $450 million in philanthropy to Columbia's medical school. [15]

In 2022, the Vageloses donated $55 million to Barnard College to support the college's STEM education efforts. It is the largest donation in the college's 130-year history. [16]

In March 2023, the Vageloses donated $175 million to Columbia to establish the Vagelos Institute for Biomedical Research Education. [17]

Related Research Articles

<i>Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy</i> Medical textbook

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy, referred to as The Merck Manual, is the world's best-selling medical textbook, and the oldest continuously published English language medical textbook. First published in 1899, the current print edition of the book, the 20th Edition, was published in 2018. In 2014, Merck decided to move The Merck Manual to digital-only, online publication, available in both professional and consumer versions; this decision was reversed in 2017, with the publication of the 20th edition the following year. The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy is one of several medical textbooks, collectively known as The Merck Manuals, which are published by Merck Publishing, a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Merck Co., Inc. in the United States and Canada, and MSD in other countries in the world. Merck also formerly published The Merck Index, An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons</span> Private medical school in Manhattan, New York, US

The Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons is the medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Tennessee Health Science Center</span> Health Sciences division of the University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is a public medical school in Memphis, Tennessee. It includes the Colleges of Health Professions, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy. Since 1911, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has educated nearly 57,000 health care professionals. As of 2010, U.S. News & World Report ranked the College of Pharmacy 17th among American pharmacy schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia University Irving Medical Center</span> Hospital in New York, U.S.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (NYP/CUIMC), also known as the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC), is an academic medical center and the largest campus of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. It includes Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, College of Dental Medicine, School of Nursing and Mailman School of Public Health, as well as the Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, the New York State Psychiatric Institute, the Audubon Biomedical Research Park, and other institutions.

Continuing medical education (CME) is continuing education (CE) that helps those in the medical field maintain competence and learn about new and developing areas of their field. These activities may take place as live events, written publications, online programs, audio, video, or other electronic media. Content for these programs is developed, reviewed, and delivered by faculty who are experts in their individual clinical areas. Similar to the process used in academic journals, any potentially conflicting financial relationships for faculty members must be both disclosed and resolved in a meaningful way. However, critics complain that drug and device manufacturers often use their financial sponsorship to bias CMEs towards marketing their own products.

The University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center (AHC) is a collection of health colleges and institutions of the University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio. It trains health care professionals and provides research and patient care. AHC has strong ties to UC Health, which includes the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and West Chester Hospital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Topol</span> American cardiologist, scientist, and author

Eric Jeffrey Topol is an American cardiologist, scientist, and author. He is the founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, a professor of Molecular Medicine and Executive Vice-President at Scripps Research Institute, and a senior consultant at the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, California. He has published three bestseller books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine (2010), The Patient Will See You Now (2015), and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again (2019). He was commissioned by the UK from 2018–2019 to lead planning for the National Health Service's future workforce, integrating genomics, digital medicine, and artificial intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Desmond-Hellmann</span> American oncologist, academic, and nonprofit administrator (born 1958)

Sue Desmond-Hellmann is an American oncologist and biotechnology leader who served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2014 to 2020. She was previously Chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the first woman to hold the position, and Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor, and before that president of product development at Genentech, where she played a role in the development of the first gene-targeted cancer drugs, Avastin and Herceptin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Lieberman</span> American psychiatrist (born 1948)

Jeffrey Alan Lieberman is an American psychiatrist who specializes in schizophrenia and related psychoses and their associated neuroscience (biology) and pharmacological treatment. He was principal investigator for CATIE, the largest and longest independent study ever funded by the United States National Institute of Mental Health to examine existing pharmacotherapies for schizophrenia. He was president of the American Psychiatric Association from May 2013 to May 2014.

Lawton R. Burns is an American business theorist, Professor of Management and the Chairperson of the Health Care Management Department of The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania, and a Faculty Co-director for the Roy and Diana Vagelos Program in Life Sciences and Management.

Sheldon Jerome Segal was an American embryologist and biochemist who spent his entire career working on contraception, and made major innovations in the field of long-lasting alternatives, with Chilean physician Horacio Croxatto, including in the creation of Norplant, the first major development advance in birth control since the birth control pill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merck & Co.</span> American multinational pharmaceutical company

Merck & Co., Inc. is an American multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in Rahway, New Jersey, and is named for Merck Group, founded in Germany in 1668, of whom it was once the American arm. The company does business as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, generally ranking in the global top five by revenue.

The London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases was a collaborative disease eradication programme launched on 30 January 2012 in London. It was inspired by the World Health Organization roadmap to eradicate or prevent transmission for neglected tropical diseases by the year 2020. Officials from WHO, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's 13 leading pharmaceutical companies, and government representatives from US, UK, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Brazil, Mozambique and Tanzania participated in a joint meeting at the Royal College of Physicians to launch this project. The meeting was spearheaded by Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, and Bill Gates, Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eve Slater</span> American physician (born 1945)

Eve Elizabeth Slater is an American physician who served as the United States Assistant Secretary for Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush from 2002 to 2003. Slater received her B.A from Vassar College in 1967 and M.D. from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1971. She completed residency in internal medicine and fellowship in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.In 1976, she was appointed the Chief Resident in Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, the first woman to appointed to this position. Dr. Slater is currently Professor of Clinical Medicine at Columbia Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S), where she has taught for over 35 years. She is board certified in internal medicine and cardiology and a fellow of the American College of Cardiology.(FACC). At MGH, she led the Hypertension Unit, as Assistant Professor of Medicine. Harvard Medical School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann E. Weber</span>

Ann E. Weber is the senior vice president for drug discovery at Kallyope Inc. in New York City. She previously worked with Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), joining the company in 1987 and retiring from the position of vice president for lead optimization chemistry in 2015. She has helped develop more than 40 drug candidates including FDA-approved treatments for Type 2 diabetes. She has received a number of awards, including the Perkin Medal (2017) and has been inducted into the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry’s MEDI Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Thornberry</span>

Nancy A. Thornberry is the founding CEO and current chair, R&D at Kallyope Inc. in New York City. She previously worked with Merck Research Laboratories (MRL), joining the company in 1979 as a biochemist and retiring from the position of senior vice president and franchise head, diabetes and endocrinology in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Goldman</span> American cardiologist and educator

Lee Goldman is an American cardiologist and educator at Columbia University, where he is professor of medicine at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, and dean emeritus of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine. From 2006 to 2020 he served as executive vice president and dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and Medicine, chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Harold and Margaret Hatch Professor of the university. Before moving to Columbia, he was chair of the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his B.A., M.D., and M.P.H. degrees from Yale University.

Donald W. Landry is an American scientist who is the Hamilton Southworth Professor of Medicine, Chair of the Department of Medicine at Columbia University and Physician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Irving Medical Center since 2008. He is also past founding director of the Division of Experimental Therapeutics, and past director of the Division of Nephrology. Landry completed his Ph.D. in organic chemistry with R.B. Woodward at Harvard University in 1979 and then obtained the M.D. degree from Columbia University in 1983. After completing his residency in internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, he returned to Columbia for training as an NIH Physician-Scientist, 1985–90, and has remained as a member of the Columbia faculty.

Katrina Alison Armstrong is an American internist. She is the chief executive officer of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Dean of the Faculties of Health Sciences and the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. Armstrong is the first woman to lead Columbia's medical school and medical center. She was the first woman to hold the position of Physician-in-Chief at Massachusetts General Hospital and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.

John J. Horan was an American businessman. He was Chairman and CEO of Merck & Co. from 1976 to 1985.

References

  1. ↑ "Committee of prominent health researchers and Nobel laureates renames the Prix Galien Pro Bono Humanum Award to recognize the global health leadership of Dr. Roy Vagelos" (PDF). The Galien Foundation. June 14, 2018.
  2. ↑ The International Who's Who 1991–92. Europa Publ. 1991. ISBN   9780946653706 . Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  3. ↑ Peterson, Iver. "A Company Move That Hasn't Irked the Neighbors", The New York Times , November 15, 1992. Accessed October 19, 2007. "In addition, Merck & Co. donated $40,000 to fund a study on improving Rahway's downtown business district, it paid $126,000 to help cover the cost of paving some roads adjoining its complex, and it put new scientific equipment in Rahway High School, the alma mater of Dr. P. Roy Vagelos, the corporate chairman."
  4. ↑ Johnson, Robert. "Looking Back Is Not an Option", The New York Times , November 28, 2004. Accessed October 19, 2007. "He is also promoting his new book "Medicine, Science and Merck" (Cambridge University Press), written with Louis Galambos, describing his path from son of a luncheonette owner in Rahway, N.J., to leader of a pharmaceutical giant."
  5. ↑ "Greek-American doctor donates millions of dollars to Columbia Uni". www.balkaneu.com. Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  6. ↑ Durando, Elizabethe Holland (October 29, 2021). "$15 million gift to strengthen life science education, research across university". Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  7. ↑ "P. Roy Vagelos, MD". usaindiachamber.org. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Nichols, Nancy A. (November 1, 1994). "Medicine, Management, and Mergers: An Interview with Merck's P. Roy Vagelos". Harvard Business Review. ISSN   0017-8012 . Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  9. ↑ Reisch, Marc (May 31, 1999). "Vagelos Becomes Third Recipient Of Othmer Gold Medal". Chemical & Engineering News. 77 (22): 38. doi: 10.1021/cen-v077n022.p038 .
  10. ↑ "Othmer Gold Medal". Science History Institute . May 31, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Special Programme for Research & Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)" (PDF). January 14, 2008. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Penn Arts & Sciences receives record $83.9 million gift". Penn Today. January 25, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
  13. ↑ "Columbia University Medical Center Dedicates the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center". June 10, 2016.
  14. ↑ Otterman, Sharon (December 4, 2017). "With $250 Million Gift, Columbia Medical School Looks to End Student Debt". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 7, 2017.
  15. ↑ "Roy and Diana Vagelos Donate $250 Million to Columbia's Medical School". Columbia University Irving Medical Center. December 5, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
  16. ↑ Nietzel, Michael T. "Barnard College Receives $55 Million Gift, The Largest In Its History". Forbes. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  17. ↑ Nietzel, Michael T. "Roy And Diana Vagelos Give Columbia University $175 Million For Biomedical Research And Education". Forbes. Retrieved April 1, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.