Jeffrey Chodakewitz — Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Global Medicines Development & Medical Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Dr. Jeffrey A. Chodakewitz, also known as Jeff, M.D., has been the Chief Medical Officer of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated since January 8, 2014 and has been its Executive Vice President of Global Medicines Development & Medical Affairs since October 2014. Dr. Chodakewitz served as Senior Vice President of Global Medicines Development & Medical Affairs at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated. He oversees all global clinical development programs, medical affairs and other related functions. Dr. Chodakewitz spent over 20 years at Merck Research Laboratories where he held multiple leadership roles in clinical pharmacology and oversaw clinical development and program regulatory strategy. He served as Senior Vice President at Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated since January 8, 2014. Prior to joining Vertex, he spent more than 20 years at Merck & Co., where he held a variety of roles including Vice President of Clinical Research - Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Vice President of Clinical Pharmacology/Early Stage Development, Senior Vice President of Late Stage Development and Senior Vice President of Global Scientific Strategy (Infectious Diseases, Respiratory/Immunology). He has more than 30 years' experience in infectious disease clinical research and development. During his time at Merck, he led the worldwide development and approval activities for Crixivan(R) for the treatment of HIV infection, Gardasil(R) for the prevention of cervical cancer and Zostavax(R) for the prevention and reduction in morbidity of zoster. Prior to Merck, he served multiple roles in academia and was an Associate Investigator for the Veterans Administration Medical Center, an Associate Research Scientist for the Yale University School of Medicine and Head of the HIV Outpatient Clinic for the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Haven, CT. He has been a Director of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., since June 17, 2014. He is a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners, the American Board of Internal Medicine (both Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases). He is a Member of the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (ASCPT). Dr. Chodakewitz received a B.S. in Biochemistry from Yale University and his M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine.