Joseph Romanelli is president, Human Health International for Merck. He has P&L responsibility for Merck’s 75-plus markets outside of the U.S. and leads a team of 14,000 colleagues.  

From 2021 to mid-2022, Joseph served as chief executive officer of JiXing Pharmaceuticals, a China-based biopharmaceutical company.

Prior to JiXing, Joseph served in a variety of strategic and operational roles with increasing responsibility at Merck and Schering-Plough for 25 years. He led Merck’s business in China from 2016 through 2021. During his tenure in China, Merck became the second largest multi-national pharmaceutical company by revenue in the market, as well as the second largest subsidiary for the company globally. Joseph’s previous roles at Merck include serving as chief of staff to the president of Human Health and managing the Human Health business for multiple markets in Asia Pacific. In addition, he led the Investor Relations team at Merck.

Joseph received his undergraduate degree from the University of Delaware and his master’s in Business Administration from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Management.