The drugmaker picks off Ismail Kola, a Merck veteran, as chief scientific officer. At Merck, Kola was most recently senior vice president and site head for basic research, responsible for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, infectious diseases, immunology and rheumatology, animal pharmacology and basic and medicinal chemistry.

Kola, who reports to Tom Koestler, executive vice president and president of Schering’s research unit, now oversees 1,000 people at research sites in New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and Milan, Italy. The scientist (that’s him to the right) will also become a member of the operations management team.

Kola succeeds Catherine Strader, who has been named senior vice president of science and technology, reporting directly to ceo Fred Hassan. In this new role, she will participate in external science and technology activities, including business development and licensing.

There’s more detail here.

[tags]Ismail Kola, Merck, Schering-Plough[/tags]