A board-certified endocrinologist and pharmaceutical executive with years of management experience, Dr. Maria Rivas is currently the Senior Vice President of Global Medical Affairs at Merck Pharmaceuticals. Previous to Merck, Dr. Rivas spent three years as Vice President and Head of Global Medical Affairs for Abbvie in North Chicago, Illinois. At Abbvie, she managed more than 1000 global and affiliate medical affairs and pharmacovigilance staff in diverse therapeutic areas such as Neuroscience, immunology, Oncology and Hepatology. Prior to her work at Abbvie, Dr. Maria Rivas held two executive positions at Bayer Healthcare. As Vice President of Oncology Global Medical Affairs, she oversaw a regional and global team of professionals in support of new product launches as well as a pipeline of existing products. She also served as Vice President of US Medical Affairs for General Medicine and Diagnostic Imaging.

Dr. Maria Rivas obtained her doctorate in medicine at the Columbia University College of Physician & Surgeons and is a fellow of the American College of Endocrinology and the American College of Physicians. She is also American Board of Internal Medicine certified in Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism.