Alumni Profiles
Margaret McGlynn
Pharmaceutics executive mixes marketing and medical savvy to help create breakthroughs
Story by Pat Pollock : Photo by Peter Lien
Margaret McGlynn (photo:Peter Lien)
It’s no small thing to develop a vaccine. It takes years of research, hard work and testing as it passes through the development “pipeline.” A vaccine might be one that dramatically changes the health of babies in developing countries, for example, or one that can make life much less painful for adults and seniors. It’s one thing to create the vaccine but it’s quite another to get it to the people—nearby or around the world—who need it.
Margaret (Hempling) McGlynn, MBA ’83 & BS ’82, recently named president of the vaccine division at Merck and Co. Inc., is responsible for making a major part of the magic happen. A member of the company’s senior management team, formulating global business strategies and policies, she’s rolling out four new vaccines during her first year at the top. Her charge also includes overseeing a joint venture in Europe, efforts to make the company’s vaccines available in the developing world, and ongoing work to determine which future vaccine targets to pursue.
The four breakthrough vaccines now on her list may become standard protocols for future generations. One of them prevents HPV (human papillomavirus) infection and cervical cancer in females; another prevents severe diarrhea in infants; a third is a combination vaccine to prevent measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chicken pox); the fourth is a vaccine to prevent shingles and the severe nerve pain it can cause.
Each vaccine is unique and will require a different approach on the road to market. With the cervical cancer vaccine, for example, McGlynn begins with policymakers at the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices who must decide whether the vaccine should be part of the routine inoculation recommendations for adolescent and young adult females. Next, managed care insurers need to agree to pay for the patient’s inoculation. Physicians, parents and consumers also must accept the vaccine.
“You have to have a multipronged approach to educate all the various stakeholders and convince them of the public health value and the individual value of the vaccine,” McGlynn points out. “We’ll be introducing vaccines that can dramatically impact people’s lives—we hope to prevent many of the 500,000 deaths of infants caused by rotavirus every year, and the 300,000 deaths from cervical cancer. That’s what motivates me and gives me tremendous satisfaction in my role.”
McGlynn has been at Merck since her days at UB, beginning with two summer internships there. She had always expected to work with her father, Edward J. Hempling, BS ’50, who died in December 2005, at his south Buffalo store, Hempling’s Pharmacy. But along the way she decided to expand her future options by adding business as a second major. She earned her pharmacy degree followed by an MBA, then joined Merck full time.
She began as a professional representative followed by 10 years of various marketing positions: market research, promotion manager, product manager, market planning and national consumer marketing director. McGlynn’s UB marketing savvy and pharmaceutical expertise continue to provide the medical and business context to better understand the medicines and vaccines and the patients who use them.
McGlynn vividly remembers the day in 1993 when she was offered the position of vice president of business management and development in the human health division with responsibility for several important functions and more than 300 employees. “It was interesting to be the first female vice president of a business area of Merck and to be nine months pregnant when offered the position,” she recalls.
She continued to advance to various roles in the company’s business areas, including managed care, pharmacy benefit management, global marketing, the U.S. hospital and specialty business, and currently the global vaccine business. “I was particularly proud of my work in helping to enhance the Merck Patient Assistance Program, which offers free Merck medicines to individuals unable to afford them,” McGlynn adds.
Named as one of 77 “Women Worth Watching in 2006” in the November/December 2005 issue of Profiles in Diversity Journal, McGlynn comments, “My approach to leading an organization to success is to have a diverse team of talented, committed individuals who bring different perspectives to the table, and to coach them to help each individual and the organization perform to their fullest potential.”
She’s also a believer in work-life balance. “If you set the right priorities and always deliver, you can earn the flexibility you need to achieve balance.”
A woman of integrity and social conscience, McGlynn spoke about leadership and responsibility at a 2003 meeting of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association. “We must work together to restore and enhance trust and faith in the health-care system and enhance access to high quality health care and pharmaceuticals for all,” McGlynn appealed. The following year she created a new discount card program that helps uninsured patients get many of the company’s medicines at 15 to 40 percent off.
McGlynn’s continuing involvement with UB includes not only charitable giving but also the sharing of her expertise. She was the speaker for the 2006 School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences commencement, served on the School of Management Dean’s Advisory Council and has provided funding for a student resource room in the new Alfiero Center. She has honored her father’s memory with a start-up gift to establish the Edward J. Hempling Community Pharmacy Education Fund in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and serves on the school’s Dean’s National Industrial Advisory Council. The school’s capital campaign secured a Kresge challenge grant to support a state-of-the-art instrumentation facility at UB to which McGlynn has contributed. And in 2003, she received an award from Dean John Thomas of the School of Management for her career-long achievement in an industry.
As corporate chair of Merck’s charitable giving efforts, McGlynn helped to expand the scope of the company’s capital campaign beyond United Way to also include matching gifts to art and culture, university hospitals and National Public Radio, as well as to other health and human services organizations.
McGlynn makes time for volunteer community and philanthropic activities, too, including the Corporate Board of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Philadelphia Art Museum.
McGlynn shares her knowledge of business and its interpersonal aspects by mentoring talented women and men who show raw potential; over the years, she has appreciated the guidance and advice from mentors herself. One person in particular not only helped adjust her approach to her work and interactions with other people; he also pointed out a few development needs she had. “Had he not done that,” McGlynn says, “I would never have accomplished what I have today.”
Pat Pollock is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Related Reading: Short Profile on Margaret McGlynn