David Ege

David Ege currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Merck, a role he has held since 2019. With a career spanning more than 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, Ege has developed a deep expertise in vaccine and biologics manufacturing, facility development, and process optimization. He joined Merck in 2003 and has held various technical and leadership positions in research and development (R&D) and manufacturing both in the U.S. and Switzerland. From 2015 to 2019, Ege was the Executive Director of Vaccines & Biologics Manufacturing at Merck’s plant in Elkton, VA, where he led bulk manufacturing operations for the Gardasil and Gardasil9 cervical cancer vaccines, along with adjuvants and Cancidas. His contributions were pivotal in the successful licensure and launch of these vaccines in 2006 and 2014, respectively, as well as the breakthrough cancer immunotherapy, Keytruda, in 2014. Ege graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a BSE in chemical engineering and earned his Ph.D. in the same field from the University of Pennsylvania. During his time at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked in the Center for Technology Transfer and served as President of the Penn Biotech Group.