George Abercrombie

Academic Area: Business Administration

Bio

Mr. Abercrombie has more than 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry., most recently as the president and chief executive officer of Roche Laboratories, Inc., and president and chief executive officer of North American Pharmaceuticals Operations for Roche Holding AG. He has substantial expertise in sales and marketing, executive sales management and business development.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Abercrombie was the president and chief executive officer of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., a subsidiary of Roche Holding AG, and served as its head of North American Pharmaceutical Operations. Mr. Abercrombie also served as chief executive officer of North American Pharmaceuticals Operations and president of North American Pharmaceuticals Operations at Roche Holding AG, leading the North American Pharmaceutical Operations for the Roche Group in the U.S. and Canada. Prior to his positions at Roche, Mr. Abercrombie was the senior vice president of commercial operations at Glaxo Wellcome Inc., where he was responsible for all commercial operations in the U.S., including pharmaceutical sales and marketing, managed care, business planning and development and late-stage clinical drug studies for the entire U.S. portfolio. He also was the vice president, general manager of business operations, and vice president and general manager of the Glaxo Pharmaceuticals Division. Prior to his time at Glaxo, Mr. Abercrombie served ten years at Merck & Co., Inc., where he worked in a broad range of positions in sales, marketing, executive sales management and business development.

In addition to Physicians Interactive, Mr. Abercrobmie has served on the boards of Brickell Biotech, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc., ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., and Tranzyme, Inc. Mr. Abercrombie is also a director at Project HOPE, an organization dedicated to achieving sustainable advances in health care around the world. During his career, he has been involved with various industry associations such as the University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy Foundation, the Duke University Fuqua School of Business Health Sector Advisory Board, the Board of Directors for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

Mr. Abercrombie has a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He teaches biotechnology and pharmaceutical strategy.