Jill Desimone

With over 40 years of global business expertise in life sciences, Ms. DeSimone is recognized for her role as President of U.S. Oncology at Merck & Co., Inc., where she established the company’s oncology division, growing it from less than $500 million in annual revenue to $9 billion in eight years. Additionally, she led three key product launches and more than 45 indication launches, including Keytruda®, the fastest growing product in the company’s history.

Prior to joining Merck, Ms. DeSimone was Senior Vice President of Global Women’s Health at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. She began her career at Bristol Myers Squibb and held roles of increasing responsibility culminating as the Senior Vice President of U.S. Oncology, a role in which she helped launch the first FDA-approved CTLA-4 immune checkpoint inhibitor, Yervoy®.

Ms. DeSimone currently serves as a board member for Affini-T Therapeutics, Inc., Kinnate Biopharma Inc., Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc., Praxis Precision Medicine, Inc., as well as the Florida Cancer Specialists Foundation, a nonprofit organization that delivers non-medical aid for individuals undergoing treatment for cancer, and Swim Across America, a foundation that awards grants to cancer research and patient programs. She earned a B.S. in Pharmacy from Northeastern University and completed a fellowship with the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.