Paula Heck earned a Bachelors degree in Chemistry and Physics
from Bellarmine University. She worked at the Baker Library at
Harvard Business School for four years, during which she began
graduate study in information science. She then moved to New Jersey
and a position in the information science group at Merck Research
Laboratories, completing her Masters degree at Rutgers University
in information science in 1980. In 1982, she moved to the Corporate
Licensing Department, where she created Merck’s first competitive
intelligence database and contributed to a number of licensing
deals and collaborations over twenty years. In 2005, she moved
to Worldwide Licensing and External Research as Vice President,
Knowledge Management. In this capacity, she partners with her
colleagues in Merck Research Laboratories in the identification
and evaluation of external licensing opportunities.