Merck Serono Appoints Steven Hildemann as Global Chief Medical Officer
Merck Serono, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck, announced the appointment of Steven Hildemann, MD, PhD, as Global Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Head of Global Medical and Safety for the Merck Serono division. Dr. Hildemann is a board-certified Internist and Cardiologist trained in the U.S. and Germany. In his role as CMO, Hildemann will be based in Darmstadt, Germany, and report to the Global Head of Research & Development of Merck Serono, Dr. Annalisa Jenkins.
As CMO, Hildemann will be responsible for Global Medical Affairs, Global Drug Safety and External Scientific Affairs for Merck Serono. In this capacity, one of his primary responsibilities will be to support the safe and appropriate use of and access to Merck Serono medicines. He will also serve as a member of the R&D Executive Leadership Team.
Hildemann will also be responsible for medical governance in his role as Global CMO, chairing the Medical Safety and Ethics Board and the Bioethics Committee at Merck Serono. As a senior leader, he will support collaboration and partnership across the continuum of R&D and commercial.
Prior to joining Merck Serono, Hildemann was Associate Vice President, Global Clinical Trial Operations Europe, MSD (in the U.S.: Merck & Co). In this capacity, he was responsible for the execution of all early- and late-stage development programs, including life cycle management, in Europe across all of MSD’s therapeutic areas with a focus on Infectious Diseases, Central Nervous System Disorders and Oncology.
Hildemann joined the pharmaceutical industry in 1998 as the country medical director cardiovascular for Searle in Germany. After the merger with Pharmacia, he progressed to positions of increasing responsibility and in 2002 moved to New Jersey / U.S. as the Senior Global Medical Director Cardiovascular for Pharmacia, and later Pfizer. In this role, he co-designed and implemented a global Phase IIIb / IV program for the NCE-Eplerenone. This medicine is now included in current treatment guidelines around the world and a standard-of-care in patients with moderate and severe heart failure.
In 2004, Hildemann joined Schering-Plough (SP) as the country medical director in Germany. In this role, one of his joint responsibilities was the world-wide first launch of a novel combination in lipid-therapy (Ezetimibe-Simvastatin) in partnership with MSD. In 2006, Hildemann led the design and full implementation of major global change efforts, such as Global Clinical Harmonization at Schering-Plough and global integration activities for MSD-Research-Laboratories during the merger of SP and MSD.
Dr. Hildemann spent the first 10 years of his career in academic medicine.
Throughout his industry work, Hildemann has maintained part-time clinical practice and academic teaching as a basis to closely serve patients, physicians and customers with meaningful advances through innovative medicines. He is a member and fellow of renowned international medical societies and serves on faculty as an associate professor of medicine at the University of Freiburg, Germany.
Dr. Hildemann succeeds Dr. Florian Bieber in the CMO role at Merck Serono. Bieber left Merck Serono in December, 2013 to pursue other opportunities.
Hildemann is native to Germany, but has spent a good portion of his life in the United States. He is 51 years old.
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