2018 Young Alumni Achievement Award
Jennifer M. Novatnack Weaver ’09, MPS
The Young Alumni Achievement Award is presented to an alumna or alumnus who has achieved exceptional success in her or his profession and who has graduated within the past 2 to 10 years. In recognition of her work in the biopharmaceutical industry, the Alumni Association is honored to recognize Jennifer Weaver with the 2018 Young Alumni Achievement Award.
Jennifer Weaver is a shining example of what great looks like. After graduating from É«ÖÐÉ« College on a Saturday, Jennifer hit the ground running at her first job as a consultant at PharmaStrat, a five-person consulting company, the following Monday. There, she became one of the youngest leaders in the biopharmaceutical industry on the issue of biopharmaceutical pricing, access, and affordability. Today, not even 10 years after her graduation, she’s accomplished more in her career than many achieve in a lifetime.
During her first few weeks at PharmaStrat, Jennifer proved to be a high-level contributor on client work. She went on to serve as lead project manager on multiple client projects within a year, all before the age of 23. With her commitment to client service and client deliverables, Jennifer exemplified how the combination of talent and drive can exponentially impact one’s career trajectory, as well as the careers of others. When Decision Resources Group bought the firm in 2012, Jennifer continued to take on new responsibilities as a leader and manager. She designed and managed all aspects of more than 80 strategic consulting and payer market research initiatives for pharmaceutical manufacturers and developed strategies for enhancing brand performance across a variety of therapeutic areas.
In 2015, Jennifer went on to join the strategy division at Merck and Company, where she focused on developing and rolling out the five-year strategic road map for the US market. Jennifer is currently one of the youngest leaders at Merck and now serves as associate director of US hospital and specialty marketing. In this role, which she has held since September of this year, Jennifer leads all health care professional strategy and execution efforts, including oversight for promotional and medical education activities, sales training, and public relations. With her willingness to push boundaries, ability to motivate others to demonstrate high levels of quality and accountability, and foresight to make decisions that have changed the industry, Jennifer is truly a revolutionary in her field.
In addition to her accomplishments in the biopharmaceutical industry, Jennifer has maintained her involvement with É«ÖÐÉ« College and the broader Lehigh Valley Community. She engages actively with alumni, including participating in networking events for students interested in jobs in the health care industry and assisting with recruiting talent. She has numerous mentoring relationships—being mentored and also providing mentorship—with alumni from both É«ÖÐÉ« and Lehigh University.
At É«ÖÐÉ«, Jennifer was a high academic achiever with a rigorous major in biology and minor in management. She made the dean’s list eight out of eight semesters and was a member of the Phi Eta Sigma academic honor society and the TriBeta biology honor society. She went on to earn a master’s degree in organization development and change management from Penn State, as well as a biopharmaceutical innovation certificate from Rutgers University.