Eve Slater, MD, FACC
Professor of Clinical Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons
Dr. Eve Slater is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Additionally, she serves on the Boards of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (nominated); Idera Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA; iTheRx, San Diego, CA; the Council of the Rockefeller University, New York City, NY; and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, New York City, NY.
Prior to her role at Columbia, Dr. Slater served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Policy at Pfizer, Inc. She has served as Assistant Secretary of Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to joining HHS, she spent over 19 years with Merck in a number of critical scientific, strategy and public policy positions. In 1983, she joined the Merck Research Laboratories in biochemical endocrinology and molecular biology, and in 1988, she was promoted to head the regulatory affairs department as VP and later SVP of Clinical and Regulatory Development. In 2001, she was named as SVP of External Policy for Merck Research Laboratories, and VP of Merck Corporate Public Affairs. An expert on HIV treatment research, she served as a member of both the U.S. Keystone National Policy Dialogue on HIV and the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. An expert on the FDA, she was named to the Subcommittee of the FDA Science Board in 2007.
In 2001, Dr. Slater was appointed by President George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary of Health, the first woman to hold this position. In this role, she served HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson as chief health policy advisor, with special emphasis on e-health and innovation, biosecurity, clinical subjects’ protection, women’s health, eldercare and HIV/AIDS. After leaving HHS, she became a director and advisor to a number of biotechnology companies, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA and Phase Forward, Waltham, MA.
Dr. Slater received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College (Phi Beta Kappa) and her medical degree from Columbia University (Alpha Omega Alpha). She received her training in internal medicine and cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was the first woman named as Chief Resident in Medicine and later led the Hypertension Unit. She also served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, she continues to serve patients as an Associate Attending Physician at NY Presbyterian Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia.