Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall is Chief Medical Director and Senior Vice President of Pfizer Inc, the world’s largest biopharmaceutical company. She leads Pfizer Medical, the division devoted to the safe, effective and appropriate use of Pfizer’s medicines, vaccines and consumer products, from the first time they are used by patients in clinical trials until their last day of sale anywhere in the world. She is a member of Pfizer’s summit decision-making body, the Executive Leadership Team, and reports to Pfizer’s Chairman and CEO, Jeff Kindler.
She joined Pfizer in 2009 and launched an initiative to reshape Pfizer’s regulatory and medical policy during a time of fast-changing expectations for health care companies and a wave of new therapies in development at Pfizer, particularly in vaccines and biologics. The division she leads has approximately 2,400 people, including many of the nation’s foremost experts on regulatory strategy, safety strategy, clinical trial design, post-marketing surveillance, medical communications and information technology.
Prior to Pfizer, she was a senior leader in medical affairs and biomedical product development with Vertex, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Eli Lilly.
Before joining the biopharmaceutical industry, she held leadership, medical and research positions at the National Institute of Mental Health and at the Howard University Hospital and College of Medicine. She also treated psychiatric patients in the District of Columbia.
Dr. Lewis-Hall is a Fellow of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the New York Academy of Medicine. Her publications include the book “Psychiatric Illness in Women: Emerging Trends and Research” and a number of journal articles on diagnosing and treating mental diseases. She’s a well-known speaker on the effects of illness on patients, families and communities as well as healthcare disparities, mental illness and women’s health issues.
She received her undergraduate degree from The Johns Hopkins University and her M.D. from Howard University Hospital and College of Medicine. She and her husband, Randy Hall, reside in New York City.