Dr Martin Mackay
Doctor of Science

Dr Martin Mackay has made significant achievements in the pharmaceutical industry over the last 30 years, through his contribution to scientific knowledge and to corporate leadership in the sector.

Martin earned a first class honours degree in Microbiology at Heriot-Watt University and a PhD in Molecular Genetics at the University of Edinburgh. He conducted his postdoctoral research fellowship working on malarial vaccines.

Martin joined Ciba-Geigy and in 1993, he moved to Ciba’s headquarters in Basel, Switzerland as head of molecular and cell biology where he led an international team of researchers until his move to Pfizer in 1995.

At Pfizer he was promoted to senior vice president, head of worldwide discovery in 1999 and moved to the United States. He became president of PharmaTherapeutics R&D in 2009 and was a member of the Pfizer executive leadership team. He led a global organisation tasked with advancing a portfolio of investigational medicines across a range of disease areas.

In July 2010, he returned to the UK in the newly created position of president of research and development at Astra Zeneca. He leads the company’s research and development and has overall accountability for delivering new products.

Martin is a visiting professor at the University of Lincoln. He serves on the Scientific and Regulatory Committee of the industry trade group PhRMA and co-chairs the US-India BioPharma and Healthcare Summit Advisory Board.