We are taking this opportunity to spotlight some members of the Class of 1972, as they prepare to celebrate their Golden 50th reunion. Today, we begin our spotlight with Gail DeVecchis Wygant, RN, MS. Gail graduated from the University of Delaware with a BSN and from St. Joseph’s University with a Masters in Health Administration. After spending twenty years in clinical nursing and hospital quality improvement at Delaware County Memorial Hospital and Lankenau Hospital, she started her pharmaceutical career at Merck advancing thought the Field Sales organization as a Market Development Consultant and Senior Cardiovascular Specialty Representative. The majority of her pharmaceutical career was spent in health outcomes research starting in 1998 at Merck, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb, where she collaborated on over 60 abstracts, posters and manuscripts presenting her research at national and international meetings. To support the clinical development of innovative products in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, heart failure, acute coronary syndromes, atrial fibrillation and liver disease, Gail collaborated on the design of real world research programs including patient reported outcomes assessment, to demonstrate the burden of disease and the value of new medications prior to receiving FDA approval.
During her 10 years at Bristol-Myers Squibb, as worldwide health economics and outcomes research lead for a new class of diabetes oral medications, she supported the global launch and health technology assessments submissions for this asset, which are key to securing governmental reimbursement, and received a Distinction Award from United Kingdom General Manager for her critical contribution. As lead for a new class of Hepatitis C assets, she led key projects to support the clinical development and launch in multiple markets, and received a President’s Award from the clinical and marketing team to recognize her accomplishments.
She spearheaded the real world evidence generation program in venous thromboembolism (VTE), and demonstrated the differentiated value of a novel anticoagulant for patients with VTE or cancer associated thrombosis. Her research has won the best poster award at American College of Cardiology meetings 2018 and 2019, and led to the first Real World Data oral presentation at the American Society of Hematology meeting in December 2019 for this anticoagulant . She led novel research in atrial fibrillation (AF) diagnosis detection through the development of economic models on effectiveness of screening programs, and supported the initiation of a large AF screening trial in 2019. Gail designed an innovative outcome assessment approach based on Medicare claims data for this pragmatic trial.
Gail retired in September 2020 and enjoys spending time with her three grandchildren and relaxing at the New Jersey shore.
