February 2005
Merck CEO Raymond Gilmartin to lecture at NJIT
Raymond V. Gilmartin, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck and Co., Inc., will visit New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) on Feb. 23 to deliver a lecture titled "A Prescription for Change in U.S. Health Care."
As more and more Americans come to rely on prescription drugs to meet their health care needs, the pharmaceutical industry is receiving increasing attention from policy makers at every level. Gilmartin will discuss the ongoing challenges facing the U.S. pharmaceutical industry, with particular focus on the areas of access, affordability, innovation and quality of care.
Merck and Co., Inc. is one of the most respected and successful drug makers in the world. Headquartered in Whitehouse Station, Merck employs nearly 64,000 people worldwide. Merck's global sales were $22.9 billion in 2004.
Since the company was founded in 1891, Merck researchers have pioneered innovations for treating serious diseases � a tradition that produced such major medical advances as penicillin, streptomycin and cortisone, among others.
Merck is also well known for its philanthropy. For nearly 20 years, Merck has donated a drug to treat river blindness in Africa and Latin America. The company responded to the recent tsunami disaster by pledging more than $10 million in aid and supplies. Nearer to home, Merck has contributed more than $20 million to the Merck Institute for Science Education, which partners with New Jersey and Pennsylvania school districts to improve science and math education.
Prior to joining Merck in 1994, Gilmartin was chairman, president and chief executive officer of Becton Dickinson. He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Union College in 1963 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1968. He serves on the boards of General Mills, Inc. and the Microsoft Corporation. He is chairman of the Board of Directors of The United Negro College Fund and is a trustee of the Healthcare Leadership Council. He also serves on the President's Export Council. Gilmartin's lecture is the second in NJIT's 2005 Technology and Society Forum series. The spring forums are designed to explore the connections between the technological expertise students study in the classroom and the real-world geo-political issues that affect the quality of human life. Each event is designed to foster discussion between the experts and the audience about the social implications of cutting-edge technologies.
During the forum for March 2, Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and international affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School and the department of geosciences at Princeton University, will explore the role of fossil fuel in global warming. On April 7, Philip Goode, PhD, distinguished professor of physics at NJIT and director of the Big Bear Solar Observatory, will discuss his research suggesting that climate changes on earth are correlated with changes in the Sun's output. On April 20, the Nobel Laureate Leon M. Lederman, director emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will discuss the crisis in U.S. science education and science literacy. The forums for the spring semester will conclude on April 27 with a concert featuring the Newark Arts High School Chorus. All of the lectures are free and open to the public.
The lecture, co-sponsored by the Albert Dorman Honors College at NJIT, is scheduled for 3 p.m. in the campus center ballroom. It is free and open to the public.
Editor's Note: Journalists who would like to attend, please call Robert Florida at (973) 596-5203.
New Jersey Institute of Technology, the state's public technological research university, enrolls more than 8,200 students in bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in 100 degree programs offered by six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College and College of Computing Sciences. NJIT is renowned for expertise in architecture, applied mathematics, wireless communications and networking, solar physics, advanced engineered particulate materials, nanotechnology, neural engineering and eLearning.