Penny Heaton, M.D., is the Global Head of the Johnson & Johnson Office of the Chief Medical Officer, where she leads efforts to address global health challenges that focus on Medical Safety, Epidemiology, Bioethics, Policy and Partnerships and product Lifecycle Management. She also heads the Communicable Diseases group within Innovative Medicine R&D, addressing infectious diseases predominantly impacting low-income countries. Previously, Penny also led Global R&D Business Operations in J&J Innovative Medicine, focusing on driving a consistent approach to simplify and improve processes while driving R&D Learning and Clinical Development Team excellence across the organization. With more than two decades of experience in infectious diseases and vaccine development, Penny served as CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute (Gates MRI), leading the development of investigational products for TB, malaria, and other diseases. She also worked as Director of Vaccine Development at the Gates Foundation, addressing diseases such as HIV and polio. Penny started her career at the U.S. CDC, working on diarrheal disease surveillance and outbreak investigations, which sparked her passion for infectious diseases. She then spent 10-plus years in industry roles at Novartis, Merck and Novavax. Notably, during her time at Merck, Penny co‐developed a rotavirus vaccine that has been licensed in more than 100 countries and universally recommended by the World Health Organization for infants worldwide. A graduate of the University of Louisville School of Medicine in Kentucky, Penny is also board‐certified in Pediatrics and Pediatric Infectious Diseases. She is a member of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society and a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.