Vlad Hogenhuis, Merck

Vlad Hogenhuis

General Manager for Neuroscience, Dermatology, and Ophthalmology, Merck

RECRUITED BY: Merck CEO Roy Vagelos

EXECS NEED: The courage to do what's right

I got a call from Dr. Vagelos, with the opportunity to be part of his mission" is how Vlad Hogenhuis, MD, introduces his 14-year career at Merck. Hogenhuis was getting a Wharton MBA at the time, but he has pharma in his blood. Born in the Netherlands to a long line of physicians—his father developed a migraine drug—he practiced medicine for four years before deciding to jump to industry.

Vlad Hogenhuis

He's climbed the Merck ladder by crossing from managing to managed care to licensing to R&D strategy. "I had a broad view early on," he says. Under CEO Dick Clark's new model integrating clinical and commercial, he directs both the late-stage pipeline and global marketing for a $1.7 billion three-disease franchise. "I have end-to-end accountability," he says. "There's full alignment of what the sales force does and what we do in marketing and even in Phase III."