Robert Ruffolo is the retired President of Research and Development for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and Corporate Senior Vice President of Wyeth (now Pfizer). In that role, Dr. Ruffolo managed an R&D organization of 9,000 scientists with an annual budget in excess of $3 billion. Dr. Ruffolo joined Wyeth in 2000 as Executive Vice President, responsible for Pharmaceutical Research and Development.
Prior to joining Wyeth, Dr. Ruffolo spent 17 years at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) where he was Senior Vice President and Director of Biological Sciences, Worldwide. Before joining SmithKline Beecham, he spent six years at Lilly Research Laboratories where he was Chairman of the Cardiovascular Research Committee. During his career in the Pharmaceutical Industry, he played a significant role in the discovery and/or development of a number of marketed products, including Carvedilol (Coreg/Kredex/Dilatrend) for the treatment of congestive heart failure and acute myocardial infarction, Ropinirole (Requip) for Parkinson’s Disease, Dobutamine (Dobutrex) for congestive heart failure and Eprosartan (Teveten) for hypertension.
Dr. Ruffolo holds a B.S. in Pharmacy summa cum laude with Distinction, 1973, and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology, 1976, both from Ohio State University. Thereafter, he spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Ruffolo has authored nearly 500 full-length publications and over 200 abstracts and has edited 17 books.