Alumni Profiles - Dr. Edward Cherk

Dr. Edward Cherk Heads Alzheimer’s Drug Diagnostic Pathway for Roche

BY MICHAEL DHAR

Dr. Edward Cherk’s mix of clinical experience and business acumen has taken him from Chicago to China to Switzerland, where he now serves as global marketing leader for Roche.

Working on the drug pipeline team, Cherk, PharmD ’01, focuses on an upcoming Alzheimer’s disease medication. For Cherk, that means overseeing the diagnostic pathway so that patients who need medical care get the proper treatment. Cherk also works to identify diagnostic bottlenecks and find solutions that Roche or partners can provide.

Cherk, who completed an MBA at Northwestern University in 2008, has drawn equally on his clinical and business backgrounds in his pharmacy career, he said. And UIC helped set him up to master both sets of expertise.

“The foundational training of clinical practice that I received at UIC I still carry with me to this day when I need to learn about new disease states, when I need to learn about new drug mechanisms,” he said. Cherk also got his first exposure to the pharmaceutical industry at UIC, during an experiential rotation with Eli Lily sales representatives. In that rotation, he realized the important role pharma companies play in keeping doctors up to date.

“I gained a new appreciation for how much clinicians depend on the pharmaceutical industry . . . sharing the latest product information and educating physicians,” he said.

Dr. Edward Cherk

That experience stayed with Cherk during his first few years after graduation working as a clinical pharmacist at Highland Park Hospital. That role showed him the rewards of helping to improve patient health, and when an opportunity arose in the pharmaceutical industry, Cherk saw it as a way to broaden that impact, he said. “A pharmaceutical company coming out with a drug, it touches thousands and thousands of patients,” he said.

Cherk began his pharmaceutical career in medical information, with Hospira in the Chicago area. After earning his business degree, he returned to his native Hong Kong and then mainland China with Johnson & Johnson. At a range of pharma companies in China, he additionally worked on strategic marketing and preparing for the arrival of biosimilars. Cherk opted for another transcontinental move in 2020, when the Roche opportunity became available.

A solid educational foundation and dedicated years of work have made it possible for Cherk to help improve lives from North America to Asia to Europe, he said. “Without my training and without hard work in my career, that wouldn’t be possible.”