Merck & Co. has appointed Dean Y. Li, M.D., Ph.D. as Vice President, Head of Translational Medicine. Li most recently served as the H.A. & Edna Benning Professor of Medicine and Cardiology at the University of Utah, as the Vice-Dean of research at the University of Utah Health Science Center, and as the Chief Scientific Officer of University of Utah Health Care. Li also served as interim CEO of Associated Regional University Pathologists (ARUP), the nation's third largest clinical reference laboratory, from 2015 to 2016.

Li has also founded three successful biotech companies (Hydra Biosciences, Navigen and Recursion Pharmaceuticals), and has been on the cutting-edge of translational medical research at the University of Utah for more than two decades.

Li trained at Washington University in Saint Louis, where he earned his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees, before coming to Utah to work as a post-doc in the laboratory of Mark Keating.

About Merck & Co.

For over a century, Merck has been a global health care leader working to help the world be well. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. Through our prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, and animal health products, we work with customers and operate in more than 140 countries to deliver innovative health solutions. We also demonstrate our commitment to increasing access to health care through far-reaching policies, programs and partnerships. For more information, visit www.merck.com and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.