By John Russell
Dec. 2, 2008 | Just a few weeks after closing its Seattle facility, Merck announced on Tuesday that Rupert Vessey, the former Seattle site head, will become the head of basic research at Merck Research Laboratories in Boston. He replaces Lex Van der Ploeg, who is retiring, according to Caroline Lappetito, global communications director for Merck. The Boston site has about 400 people and Merck says it plans to hire more, but didn’t disclose how many.
“Vessey will assume responsibility for the operational and scientific objectives of the Boston site for the Oncology and Bone, Respiratory, Inflammation and Endocrinology (BRIE) research franchises, as well as Merck’s molecular profiling capabilities,” according to the Merck release. He had served as site head of Rosetta Inpharmatics and vice president of Merck’s Molecular Profiling department.
It was not immediately clear if prominent Merck researcher Eric Schadt would also move to Boston. Schadt remains a Merck employee, and the details of where he would be based are still being worked out said Lappetito. (For more on Schadt, see Merck’s Eric Schadt on the Power of Integrative Genomics.) Merck reportedly cut about 300 Seattle staffers as part of a wider worldwide reduction of 7200 in late October. “The intent is to move a large portion of the [Seattle] staff [to Boston] so they can work more closely with the East Coast discovery teams,” said Lappetito.
Vessey is an industry and Merck veteran. He spent five years at GlaxoSmithKline, serving as senior director of COPD discovery medicine and vice president of respiratory and inflammation target discovery. Prior to GSK, Vessey worked in MRL in clinical pharmacology and vaccines clinical research. He returned to Merck as vice president, clinical research, leading the BRIE franchise. Most recently, he was site head of Rosetta Inpharmatics and vice president of Merck’s molecular profiling department. He made several contributions to Merck’s research, including important work on Varivax [varicella virus vaccine live] and Zostavax [Zoster Vaccine Live], says the company.
Vessey is quoted in the release as saying, “Merck’s well-known molecular profiling capability will move with me from Seattle to Boston and become fully integrated into the company’s basic research programs. We are looking forward to joining Boston’s world-class biomedical research community, and building upon the external scientific collaborations we now enjoy with top local institutions such as Harvard and Dana Farber…We will also be expanding our ranks at the Boston research facility and will be hiring additional scientific talent and skill sets to advance Merck’s many research programs in oncology and BRIE.”
Also quoted was Merck’s senior vice president, worldwide basic research, Kathleen Metters: “Under his strong leadership, MRL Boston will play a key role in executing Merck’s new basic research global operating strategy.”
Vessey received his medical degree (BM BCh) and D.Phil (Ph.D.) in molecular medicine from Oxford University in the U.K. He completed his internship at the Nuffield Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, U.K. and residency in general medicine and endocrinology/diabetes at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at the Hammersmith Hospital in London. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians, London.