Elizabeth Barrett, currently global president oncology at Pfizer, has been appointed as the chief executive officer Novartis Oncology and a member of the executive committee of Novartis, effective February 1, 2018. She will be based in Basel.

Barrett has held numerous leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry as well as in the consumer sector. In her most recent role at Pfizer, she led the oncology business through a significant period of growth achieved in less than three years. Before joining Pfizer in 2009, she worked at Cephalon and Johnson & Johnson. She started her career at Kraft Foods Group in 1984.

Barrett is a US citizen and has lived and worked in the US and Europe. She obtained an MBA in Marketing from the Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia and a BSc in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana.