Paula Zarrella Heck

Merck, USA

Paula Heck earned a Bachelors degree in Chemistry and Physics from Bellarmine University. She worked at the Baker Library at Harvard Business School for four years, during which she began graduate study in information science. She then moved to New Jersey and a position in the information science group at Merck Research Laboratories, completing her Masters degree at Rutgers University in information science in 1980. In 1982, she moved to the Corporate Licensing Department, where she created Merck’s first competitive intelligence database and contributed to a number of licensing deals and collaborations over twenty years. In 2005, she moved to Worldwide Licensing and External Research as Vice President, Knowledge Management. In this capacity, she partners with her colleagues in Merck Research Laboratories in the identification and evaluation of external licensing opportunities.