Chief Strategy Officer,
Merck & Co., Inc., and
Senior Vice President - Emerging Markets
Merck Research Laboratories

Dr. Mervyn Turner joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1985. Since then, he has held many positions of increasing responsibility at Merck.

In 1999, Merv was appointed senior vice president, Merck Frosst Centre for Therapeutic Research in Montreal. In 2002, he was appointed to senior vice president, Worldwide Licensing and External Research. Through his multiple and diverse experiences in MRL, he has acquired a broad perspective on the issues surrounding drug discovery and development.

From 2004 through 2008, Merck experienced a sizeable increase in deal activity, with more than 190 transactions completed. Merck also has been active in mergers and acquisitions, with Aton, Abmaxis, GlycoFi, Sirna and Nova Cardia, each of which was acquired to build areas of strategic importance. Merv sees all this activity as a logical product of a cultural shift within Merck toward a more outward-facing organization.

In 2008, in addition to his MRL responsibilities, Merv was appointed as Merck's first chief strategy officer. He leads the formulation and execution of Merck's long-term strategic plan and the linkage of that strategy to the business plans of Merck's franchises, divisions and functions.

Merv earned his BSc and Ph.D. from the University of Sheffield. He has authored more than 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals. Also, he has served on the editorial board of numerous journals, and from 1998 to 2008, he was a member of Health Care Ventures Scientific Advisory Board.