The latest interview in the DCAT Alliance for Industry Women Committee’s Women Leaders in Pharma: An Interview Series features Jennifer McCafferty, Senior Vice President, Quality Assurance and Regulatory CMC, Merck Research Laboratories. Read her interview here.    

Jennifer McCafferty is Senior Vice President, Quality Assurance and Regulatory CMC at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL). In this role, Jennifer leads the global Regulatory Affairs (RA) CMC organization, MRL Quality Assurance (QA) while also assuming cross-divisional (R&D and Manufacturing) responsibilities for medical devices combination products, quality management for new pipeline modalities and change control, as a member of Merck’s Research Leadership Team (RLT) and Manufacturing Leadership Team (MLT). 

 Prior to this role, Jennifer was Vice President, Large Molecule External Manufacturing Operations, leading the company’s global external contract manufacturing (CMO) network to supply the growing vaccines and biologics portfolio of new pipeline and commercial products. Jennifer’s more than 25-year career includes leadership positions across analytical sciences, factory and CMO operations, quality systems, quality control, CMC regulatory, commercialization, business development and manufacturing strategy, as well as enterprise change program assignments across the pharmaceutical, consumer health, vaccines and biologicals business units of Merck and GlaxoSmithKline.   

 Jennifer serves on the Government Affairs Committee for the Board of Visitors and sits on the Chemistry Department Executive Advisory Board at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she earned her Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Colgate University. Jennifer has a passion for employee development and mentoring, serves on The Conference Board’s (TCB) Leadership Council for Advancing Women and was recognized as one of Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) 2023 Luminaries.  

The Women Leaders in Pharma: An Interview Series provides employees of DCAT Member Companies with the opportunity to hear from women industry leaders on a variety of timely and relevant topics.    

In each interview, the women leaders from various DCAT Member Companies share their insights on career development, leadership, mentoring, networking, and more. The interviews are published at least once every other month, and the full listing of interviews can be found here.    

About the Alliance for Industry Women Committee    
DCAT’s Alliance for Industry Women Committee aims to educate, inspire, and empower women in the pharmaceutical industry. DCAT Member Company employees can join the Alliance for Industry Women LinkedIn group to engage in dialogue and share relevant information and resources with industry colleagues.