Daniel vasella biography

Chief Executive Officer of Novartis

Born in in Fribourg, Switzerland; son of Oskar (a history professor) Vasella; married Anne-Laurence, ; children: one daughter, two sons. Education: University of Bern, M.D.,

Addresses:Office—Novartis International AG, CH Basel, Switzerland.

Career

Doctor, University of Bern, ; joined Sandoz Pharma, ; named chief executive officer of Sandoz Pharma, ; named chief executive officer of Novartis, ; named chairman of Novartis, ; co-authored Magic Cancer Bullet: How a Tiny Orange Pill is Rewriting Medical History,

Awards: Named one of the world's " Most Influential People" by Time, ; voted Europe's most influential business leader of the last 25 years by readers of the Financial Times; Pharmaceutical Executive of the Year, Pharmaceutical Achievement Awards,

Sidelights

In eight years, Daniel Vasella went from being a doctor to becoming the head of Novartis, one of the world's biggest drug companies. He has managed the company with a doctor's interest in research into new treatments and a tough-minded businessman's aggressive, innovative thinking. Thanks to his leadership, Novartis has released a drug that fights a rare cancer without hurting healthy cells, and his company has dozens of new drugs almost ready for market at a time when competitors are running low on new products. In early , he led Novartis in a bold move into the generic drug market, again showing his competitive streak and calculated risk-taking.

Vasella, who was born in Switzerland in , had to face illness and death at a young age. He came down with tuberculosis and meningitis as a child. When he was ten, his older sister died of cancer. Three years later, his father, Oskar, a history professor, died of complications from surgery. He says watching his sister fight her illness led to his interest in medicine, and he went to the University of Bern Medical School. (Another sister, who went to medical school with him, died in an

Daniel Lucius Vasella (Friburgo im Üechtland, ) es un médico y empresario de nacionalidad suiza.

Se graduó en Medicina en la Universidad de Berna en Luego de haber ocupado diversos cargos como médico en Suiza, entró a trabajar en Sandoz Pharmaceuticals en en los Estados Unidos.&#;&#;

Desde hasta , Vasella pasó de la Dirección de Marketing Corporativo a Director Vicepresidente del área de desarrollo a nivel mundial y luego como CEO de Sandoz Pharma Ltd. En y fue miembro del Comité Ejecutivo del grupo Sandoz.

Fue Presidente del Consejo de administración de la empresa farmacéutica suiza Novartis AG de Basilea desde hasta inicios de

Recibió el premio Alumni Achievement Award de la Harvard Business School, el Appeal of Conscience Award, el AJ Congress Humanitarian Award, entre otros.

En el , el Dr. Vasella fue premiado con un doctorado honoris causa por la Universidad de Basilea; igualmente recibió la Orden Nacional del Cruceiro del Sur de Brasil, fue distinguido con el rango de Caballero en el Orden Nacional de la legión de Honor en Francia y fue galardonado con el CancerCare Human Services Award.

En una encuesta realizada entre lectores del Financial Times, fue nombrado el hombre de negocios europeo más influyente de los últimos 25 años. En el , la revista Time lo incluyó en la lista de las personas más influyentes del año.

Daniel Vasella es miembro del consejo directivo de DaimlerChrysler AG en Alemania y de PepsiCo en Estados Unidos. Es miembro del comité consultor del Decano del Harvard Business School y del comité de INSEAD. Además, es Presidente de la Federación Internacional de Fabricantes Farmacéuticos, miembro del consejo de asesores en mercado internacional para Shanghái y miembro del comité Internacional de Gobernadores del Centro Peres para la paz en Israel. El año participó en la Reunión del Grupo Bilderberg, celebrada en Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel de Vouliagmeni, una localidad costera a 20 km de Atenas.&#

Daniel Lucius Vasella (born 15 August ) is a Swiss medical doctor, author, and executive who was CEO and chairman of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG, the world's fifth largest drug company. During his tenure Novartis shares fell 10%, compared to the industry average. In February Vasella was awarded close to $78 million in a "golden handshake"

In November , Vasella was elected as a member of the board of directors at XBiotech, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company located in Austin, Texas, that focuses on the discovery and commercialization of a next generation of therapeutic antibodies which harness a human's natural immunity to fight disease. Vasella is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In , Time magazine named him one of the world's most influential people, and he was chosen as the Most Influential European Business Leader of the Last 25 Years by the readers of the Financial Times. He is a former member of the steering committee of the Bilderberg Group.

Early life and education

Vasella was born in Fribourg, Switzerland, in His father was a history professor at the local university, and his mother was a housewife. His desire to become a doctor began during his childhood, which was marked by several tragedies. At eight years old, he contracted TB and meningitis and spent nearly a year in hospitals. When Vasella was 13 years old, his father died from complications of surgery.

Vasella obtained his M.D. in from the University of Bern in Switzerland. He completed his residency at the University Hospit

Daniel Vasella’s early experiences with the health care industry were shaped by his own harrowing battles with childhood illness. As a young boy in Switzerland, he was in and out of hospitals with a host of maladies, including food poisoning and asthma. At the age of eight, he suffered attacks of tuberculosis and meningitis that forced him to spend a year in a sanatorium, away from his family. The compassion of doctors and nurses in that facility helped him through that difficult period and kindled his interest in medicine. But the remainder of his youth was overshadowed by the death of his older sister from cancer when he was 10 and the death of his father in surgery when Vasella was

After graduating with high honors from University of Bern, where he studied medicine and psychoanalysis, Vasella practiced as a physician in Switzerland until , when he accepted an offer from Sandoz AG, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, to take a sales job with the company’s US affiliate. Vasella thrived in his new role. The switch from medicine to business, he says, gave him the opportunity to do work that could benefit “not one or a hundred but thousands” of people. He rose rapidly in Sandoz’s marketing organization. In , after a series of successful management assignments in the United States and Switzerland, he was named CEO.

A few years later, Vasella helped engineer what was then one of the largest mergers in corporate history by joining Sandoz and its rival Ciba-Geigy to create Novartis. Vasella was named CEO of the new company and retained that position until January He was appointed chairman of Novartis’s board of directors in and continues to serve in that capacity.

As CEO, Vasella built Novartis into one of the world’s largest drug companies by sales. He shifted research away from making incremental advances in older medicines for common maladies to focusing instead on drugs for rare, critical diseases w