Pfizer
Senior Director, Pharmaceutical Sciences Team Lead
Geraldine (Gerry) Taber received her Bachelor of Science degree from University College, Cork City, Ireland, and her PhD in Synthetic Organic Chemistry from Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland and EHICS (European Institute for Higher Chemical Education), in Strasbourg, France. Her field of research was the design and synthesis of calixarene macromolecules for biochemical applications.
Gerry joined Pfizer in 1994, where she began her career as a Development Chemist in Pfizer’s commercial manufacturing division. From there, she joined Pfizer’s Chemistry R&D group, where she lead a global team of Chemistry, Engineering and Biocatalysis scientists, whose mission was to develop new technologies that drive rapid API development.
In her current role, Gerry leads several oncology candidate teams in Pfizer’s Pharmaceutical Sciences division, through their development journey from pre-clinical to global regulatory submissions, and commercial launch.
Gerry has contributed to the development and launch of several important medicines, including Lipitor, Zithromax, Aricept , Viagra, Chantix, and Crizotinib - and was the recipient of a Presidential Green Chemistry Award for her work on the redesign of commercial process to manufacture Zoloft (anti-depressant). She was a Connecticut Women of Innovation Finalist for her work leading Pfizer ‘s R&D “Lab of the Future” program, a major investment in laboratory capabilities to integrate data rich experimentation with computational science to rapidly advance candidate development.
She has chaired Pfizer’s Pharmaceutical Science’s “Computational Process and Product Development” steering team, and is passionate about incorporating the use of modeling and simulation as a critical element to accelerate new drug process development. She currently chairs Pfizer’s Pharmaceutical Sciences Portfolio Development Team in their oversight and governance of small molecule development.
