Dr. Rick Sax earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Philosophy from Yale College (1977), summa cum laude, and obtained his MD at Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons (1981). He completed his board certification in Internal Medicine after his residency training at The New York Hospital/Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He then served as a Staff Fellow in the Cardiology Branch of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health and completed his cardiology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, becoming board-certified in Cardiovascular Diseases (1989). Dr. Sax was an Assistant Professor of Medicine and Assistant Director of the CCU at the Cornell University Medical Center (1988-1991).  Dr. Sax is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Radyus, bringing more than thirty years of research and pharmaceutical development experience to our team.

In 1991, Dr. Sax joined Merck Research Laboratories where he led the team responsible for successful development and registration of the antiplatelet agent, AGGRASTAT^Ò.  He subsequently became the Head of Clinical Cardiovascular Research with responsibility for global cardiovascular research programs at Merck. He served on the Worldwide Business Strategy Team for Hypertension & Heart Failure and led the Antiplatelet/Antithrombotic Worldwide Business Strategy Team. In 2001, Dr. Sax joined AstraZeneca as Vice President for U.S. Clinical Research, overseeing physicians and medical writers. In 2003, he created and took on the new role of Vice President for U.S. Strategic Development, responsible for the interface between the global development organization and the U.S. commercial business. Following the restructuring of global Clinical Development in 2005, Dr. Sax took on responsibility for global Medical Sciences.  He then helped create and served as the Clinical representative to the New Opportunities group, followed by a leadership role in re-designing AstraZeneca Clinical Development, with a particular focus on building a new approach and capabilities for design and interpretation of clinical programs.

Dr. Sax left AstraZeneca in 2011 and joined Quintiles as the Senior Vice President for Integrated Clinical Services, encompassing the Quintiles Laboratory, Global Safety, Biostatistics, Medical Writing, and Regulatory services. He was responsible for building Quintiles’s planning & design unit, the Center for Integrated Drug Development, which became part of Quintiles Advisory Services in 2014. With the merger of Quintiles and IMS to become IQVIA, the business evolved into the Strategic Drug Development group that focused on integrating data and deep domain expertise to support companies with due diligence activities and creating strategic development, regulatory, and commercial plans for their assets.

Dr. Sax earned his bachelor of arts degree in Biology and Philosophy from Yale College and completed his MD at Columbia University’s College of Physicians & Surgeons. In 2019, Dr. Sax formed a consultancy, Pharma Design Solutions, Ltd. which supports companies with novel, innovative technology solutions that can be implemented to improve pharmaceutical R&D efficiency and productivity and applied more broadly as health science solutions.