Mervyn Turner
Chief Strategy Officer & Senior VP Worldwide Licensing & External Research
Dr. Mervyn J. Turner is chief strategy officer for Merck & Co. Inc. and senior vice president, Worldwide Licensing and External Research,
for Merck Research Laboratories. Since joining Merck in 1985, Dr. Turner has held many positions of increasing responsibility. Through his multiple and diverse experiences in the Merck Research Laboratories he has acquired a broad perspective on the issues surrounding drug discovery and development. Most recently (November 2008), Dr. Turner was appointed chief strategy officer for the Company.
In this role, he reports to Richard T. Clark, chief executive officer, and has primary responsibility for partnering with Merck 's Executive Committee and leading the formulation and execution of Merck's long term strategic plan. His role focuses on ensuring alignment of enterprise strategy with the business plans of Franchises, Divisions, and Functions. In August 1999, Dr. Turner was appointed senior vice president, Merck Frosst Centre
for Therapeutic Research in Montreal, Canada. Dr. Turner returned from his assignment in Montreal in October 2002 to take up his position as senior vice president, Worldwide Licensing and External Research. In this role, he is responsible for the oversight of all of Merck's licensing activities, and for the management of academic relations. During 2004 through 2006 there was a sizeable increase in deal activity for
Merck, with more than 140 transactions completed. Merck has also been active in mergers and acquisitions, with Aton, Abmaxis, GlycoFi, and Sirna all acquired to build areas of key strategic importance. Dr. Turnersees all this activity as a logical product of a cultural shift within
Merck toward a more outward-facing organization. Dr. Turner is the author of more than 80 articles in peer reviewed journals. He has served on the editorial board of a number of journals, and since 1998 has been a member of Health Care Ventures Scientific Advisory Board.