Merz today announced that Terri L. Phillips, M.D., F.A.A.P., has been named Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs, effective January 2, 2018. Dr. Phillips will oversee the global medical affairs team and will be located in the Merz North America headquarters in Raleigh, N.C.
“Dr. Phillips comes to Merz with more than two decades of demonstrated leadership and a proven track record of success leading global teams in the medical affairs field,” said Dr. Stefan Albrecht, chief scientific officer at Merz. “I’m confident her combined scientific, technical and clinical experience will help Merz maximize the clinical potential of our products and pipeline by further linking scientific and clinical data to positive patient outcomes.”
In her new role, Dr. Phillips will oversee the medical affairs function for the company’s two businesses in medical aesthetics and neurosciences. She will report to Dr. Albrecht, Global CSO, and Bob Rhatigan, CEO of Merz North America.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. Phillips to the leadership team at Merz North America,” said Bob Rhatigan. “We continue to attract top industry talent that serves as positive momentum for the company as a whole. Dr. Phillips’ strategic perspective will help further our vision to become the most admired, trusted and innovative aesthetics and neurotoxin company.”
“I am excited to join the team at Merz and have the opportunity to improve patients’ health and quality of life through therapies that bring about real progress,” said Dr. Phillips. “As we build and enhance the company’s medical affairs function, I plan to explore and implement new methods to present high- quality scientific knowledge to the market and educate health care providers, customers and patients all around the world about our comprehensive product portfolio.”
Prior to joining Merz, Dr. Phillips served as Vice President of Global Medical Affairs at Santen where she was responsible for organizational design and build up for the company’s first global Medical Affairs function. She has also served as the chief scientific officer and principal at Scientific Commercialization where she provided consultative services to life science companies in the areas of strategy, organizational design, process optimization, technology implementation and business analytics. Prior to this, Dr. Phillips served as the head of medical affairs at NPS Pharmaceuticals where she led the medical affairs strategy to help launch the company’s first commercial market entry.
Dr. Phillips also spent nine years at Allergan where she designed and implemented a comprehensive, fully integrated medical, scientific and technical support roll-out program for BOTOX® Cosmetic and Juvéderm. As an experienced clinician, Dr. Phillips is dual board certified in neonatal/prenatal medicine and pediatrics, and has therapeutic expertise in aesthetic medicine, neurology, gastroenterology, endocrinology, urology and ophthalmology. Early in her career, Dr. Phillips served as the officer in charge, Newborn Nursery, at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Fort Campbell, Kentucky, as well as the interim chief of pediatric service at the Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado.