Novartis announced that Elizabeth (Liz) Barrett, currently Global President Oncology at Pfizer Inc., has been appointed CEO Novartis Oncology and a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis, effective February 1, 2018. She will be based in Basel. Mrs. Barrett succeeds Bruno Strigini who decided to retire from Novartis for personal reasons. In her most recent role at Pfizer, she led the oncology business through a significant period of growth achieved in less than three years. The company also announced that Robert Kowalski, Pharm.D., Head of Global Regulatory Affairs, will assume ad interim leadership of the Drug Development Organization, effective February 1, 2018. Dr. Kowalski has been Head of Global Regulatory Affairs for Novartis since February 2016 and has played an important leadership role in securing approvals for several breakthrough medicines including revolutionary CAR-T therapy Kymriah™. The definitive Head of Global Drug Development will be announced in due course.