Elizabeth Barrett named CEO of Novartis Oncology

Elizabeth Barrett was appointed CEO Novartis Oncology and a member of the executive committee of Novartis.

Barrett is currently Global President Oncology at Pfizer Inc.

Barrett succeeds Bruno Strigini who is retiring from Novartis for personal reasons, the company said.

Barrett’s appointment is effective Feb. 1, and she will be based in Basel.

In her most recent role at Pfizer, Barrett led the oncology business through a significant period of growth achieved in less than three years. Before joining Pfizer in 2009, she worked at Cephalon Inc. and Johnson & Johnson. She started her career at Kraft Foods Group Inc. in 1984.

Novartis also announced today that Robert Kowalski, head of global regulatory affairs, will assume ad interim leadership of the drug development organization effective Feb. 1. Kowalski has been head of global regulatory affairs for Novartis since February 2016 and has played an important leadership role in securing approvals for several breakthrough medicines including our revolutionary CAR-T therapy Kymriah, the company said.

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