Michele Vigneault McNeil

Dr. Michele V. McNeill founded and operated a financially successful business with an unfaltering focus on her clients-patients with life-threatening diseases.

A native of Charleston, W.V., Dr. McNeil is an exceptional role model as an entrepreneur and a citizen. The standard she sets for integrity and quality of work is a challenge to match. McNeill received her B.S. degree in pharmacy from WVU in 1975, where she was elected president of the Rho Chi Honor Society. She earned a doctor of pharmacy degree from Duquesne University and completed residency in hospital pharmacy at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. In her early career she held key management in clinical pharmacy (Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Erie County Medical Center) and the pharmaceutical industry (Warner Lambert which is now Pfizer, Hoffmann La-Roche, and Ciba Geigy which is now Novartis). In 1988, she founded Kern McNeill International (KMI), a contract research organization providing clinical drug development services to research-based pharmaceutical manufacturers. This entails overseeing all phases of investigational drug research and the drug approval process. KMI pioneered work in providing access to investigational drugs for serious and life-threatening illnesses such as AIDS, hepatitis, and cancer. More than 80,000 patients were treated in programs managed by KMI. In 1998, Ingenix, a subsidiary of United Health Group, acquired KMI (now Ingenix Pharmaceutical Services). McNeill remained as president of the CRO operations for almost 3 years during which time the organization grew from 150 U.S. employees to over 1300 employees in 20 countries.

McNeill's commitment to the treatment of AIDS has been recognized nationally and internationally. Currently she serves as an executive appointee on the National Institutes of Health Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council and the HIV/AIDS Therapeutic Working Group. In addition, she is a member of the board of directors of the American Foundation for AIDS Research. For WVU, McNeill has served on the Board of Directors of the WVU Foundation, endowed a scholarship in the School of Pharmacy, and pledged $1 million to establish the first chair in the School of Pharmacy. In 1999, she was inducted into the WVU Academy of Distinguished Alumni.