Olivier Brandicourt (57) has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer HealthCare and member of the Bayer Executive Council effective November 1, 2013. Since March 2013, Professor Wolfgang Plischke has led Bayer HealthCare on an interim basis in addition to his existing duties as a Bayer AG Board Member.

"With Olivier Brandicourt we have found a strong leader with outstanding international experience and a successful track record in the healthcare industry. I am convinced that he can significantly contribute to the further growth of our healthcare business," said Bayer Group CEO Dr. Marijn Dekkers.

Brandicourt has 25 years of international experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including executive responsibilities in France, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. He has been a member of the Executive Leadership Team of Pfizer, New York, USA, for the last three years. Until recently he was president and general manager of the Emerging Markets and Established Products Business Units. Before that he held senior operational positions as President of the Global Specialty Business Unit, and until 2012 he was head of the Global Primary Care Business Unit. Furthermore, he previously held senior regional and country management positions at Pfizer and positions across a range of disciplines including medical and marketing at Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis.

"I am looking forward to joining the Bayer team. With a clear focus on research and development as well as a passion and dedication to improving people's lives, Bayer has an excellent track record in bringing innovation to the market," said Olivier Brandicourt.

Olivier Brandicourt holds a medical degree with a subspecialty in infectious diseases and tropical medicine, as well as a master's degree in biology from Paris 12 University, France. After completing his studies, Brandicourt spent two years in the Republic of Congo as a doctor and eight years with the Institute for Infectious and Tropical Diseases at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, spending half this time in West and Central Africa working on malaria research. Brandicourt is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in London, UK, and a member of the Children's Aid Society's Board of Trustees in New York. He is married with three grown-up children.