Joshua ElkingtonFounder and General Partner at Axial

Roy Vagelos, former CEO of Merck

Name: Roy Vagelos, former CEO of Merck
Uploaded: 2024-05-24T16:16:13+00:00
Duration: 1 min
Channel: Joshua Elkington
Description: In this brief excerpt, former Merck CEO Roy Vagelos reflects on his dual role as a corporate leader and an educator. He explains that while serving as…

24 May 2024 · 1 min

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In this brief excerpt, former Merck CEO Roy Vagelos reflects on his dual role as a corporate leader and an educator. He explains that while serving as CEO he remained closely involved with the research labs, working hand‑in‑hand with the head of research, because that is where his expertise lies. Vagelos also emphasizes his ongoing commitment to teaching large cohorts of undergraduate scholars at the University of Pennsylvania, describing a program that admits 25 freshmen each year into three distinct tracks, resulting in four years of continuous engagement with a sizable student body. He notes that the direction of his work is always guided by what is interesting at the moment, and he remains personally interested in those directions. The tone is conversational and reflective, with an enthusiastic and supportive sentiment toward both his corporate and academic responsibilities.

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When I was CEO, I was still essentially running the research labs with a head of research, but I was very close to him because that's what I know. And the business aspects— and I make a point of this in talking with my students that I'm engaged with. By the way, it's a large group of students because the idea is to take 25 freshmen in each of these 3 programs every year. So 4 years' worth. It's a lot of students that I see. And they're all Bachelor scholars at Penn, which is very exciting for me. Anyway, so directions are always what is interesting at that time. And fortunately, I'm still interested.