2013 Healthcare Businesswomen's Association Woman of the Year Lauded In PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE Magazine

Merck's Bridgette P. Heller receives cover feature, exclusive behind-the-scenes interview and photographs

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May 01, 2013, 08:35 ET

NEW YORK, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE magazine's April cover story profiles Bridgette P. Heller, executive vice president at Merck, president of Merck Consumer Care and the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association (HBA) 2013 Woman of the Year.

For the sixth year in a row, PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE, the industry's premier publication, highlights HBA's choice of a woman executive for her outstanding skills and leadership qualities.

The HBA's 24th annual Woman of the Year event takes place on Thursday, May 9, at the Hilton New York where Bridgette Heller will be officially named and recognized. Considered by many to be the event of the year for the healthcare community, it is attended by nearly 2,500 leaders in the industry. Awards for Honorable Mentor, STAR, and a group of over 100 Rising Stars notable for their accomplishments and contributions to the healthcare industry will also be presented at the event.

In PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE's 2013 Woman of the Year cover story, writer Joanna Breitstein offers an intimate glimpse into what motivates Bridgette Heller, Merck's executive vice president and president of Consumer Care.

A natural born leader, Heller has an intuitive sense for which way the wind is blowing. And for an industry at a crucial point of change the direction is towards the consumer. Connecting with consumers is now part of the equation for doing business.

"Healthcare leaders need to be aware that you can't be in the industry if you're not patient-focused," said Eve Dryer, an independent consultant in stakeholder engagement and patient advocacy and HBA's 2013 STAR volunteer award winner.

Bridgette Heller holds a deep conviction that everyone matters. She learned this from her Seminole, Native American great grandmother who believed in opening her arms to everyone.

"The big value I bring to the Merck executive committee is reminding them that patients are consumers and that people don't walk around thinking of themselves as sick, but think of themselves as wanting to be well," says Heller.

This approach to the consumer may be new for Merck, but a more knowledgeable and vocal consumer is a growing fact of life. "If you look at they way healthcare as an industry is changing, the consumer mindset is something that all pharma companies are going to have to become more ingrained in and more comfortable with," says Heller. "They're going to have to start seeing the world from that perspective."

See complete profile online: bit.ly/17d0QdB

EDITOR WILLIAM LOONEY ON PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE'S SELECTION OF APRIL'S WOMAN OF THE YEAR COVER STORY: "If the industry's future lies in that fecund space beyond the pill, success means being able to foster connections, combining the science of discovery, development, and formulation with the instinctive human art of serving a living, breathing customer. Bridgette Heller of Merck, the Healthcare Businesswoman's Association (HBA) Woman of the Year, innately understands this.

See William Looney's comments online: http://tinyurl.com/caw8fzg

PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE Pharmaceutical Executive probes the interface of business practice and public policy for the global biopharmaceutical, vaccine and medical device industries. PharmExec's editorial remit covers strategy in the"c-suite" as well as regulatory and legal actions; sales promotion and marketing; R&D; finance; human resources; pricing and market access; and new technology. Published by Advanstar Communications, PharmExec's editorial content is available in the award-winning monthly print edition as well as in a number of digital platforms.

For more information: contact: Marylyn Donahue, 212-951-6742