Michael Thien ScD, BS

Dr. Thien has worked in new product and process development at Merck for over 20 years. After receiving his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Caltech (1982), an Sc.D. from MIT in biochemical engineering (1988) and a post doc at the Whitehead Institute of Biomedical Research, Mike joined the Merck Research Labs, working in vaccines and recombinant proteins. In 1991, Dr. Thien led a process development group for compounds made by organic synthesis, continuing in that capacity until 1997. During this time Dr. Thien was named a Merck Research Labs “Divisional Scientist” as a result of his development and plant start-up work on CRIXIVAN, one of the first HIV protease inhibitors in the marketplace. Between 1997 and 2003 Mike held roles of increasing responsibility including Senior Director of chemical pilot plant operations and Executive Director of chemical process development. Dr. Thien was named Vice President, Process R&D in 2003 covering analytical and engineering development of Merck's small molecules.