5 Questions with Doug White, Senior Vice President, Devices Business Unit Head, Emergent BioSolutions

“5 Questions With…” is a weekly BioBuzz series where we reach out to interesting people in the BioHealth Capital Region to share a little about themselves, their work, and maybe something completely unrelated. This edition features 5 Questions Doug White, Senior Vice President, Devices Business Unit Head, Emergent BioSolutions.

Doug White joined Emergent in 2017 and serves as head of the devices business unit. He previously served as vice president and general manager of Molecular Diagnostics & Women’s Health at Becton Dickenson Diagnostics. Before joining Becton Dickenson Diagnostics, he was chief executive officer of OpGen Inc.

Mr. White has held several executive leadership positions at multi-national companies including QIAGEN/Digene, where he was responsible for building the commercial organization that helped establish the HPV screening market in the US, IGEN International, Bayer/Chiron Diagnostics, and Abbott Diagnostics. Mr. White has extensive experience in operations, portfolio and product management, sales and marketing, and customer and scientific support.

Mr. White holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Washington College and is a board member of Maryland World Trade Center Institute.

1. You’ve been part of the biotech community here in Maryland since the early 2000’s. Walk us through your career.

I moved back to Maryland in 2002 and have been part of the biotech community ever since. Of particular note, I joined Evan Jones and Chuck Fleischman at Digene as the head of commercial operations and helped build the team that developed the HPV cervical cancer screening market and business. After we sold the business to Qiagen, I stayed to help integrate the business and run the MDx diagnostics business for the Americas.

I joined OpGen as the CEO in 2010 and led the organization through several rounds of financing and built the leadership team, infrastructure, commercial business as well as establishing a CLIA lab service. I moved to head up the Women’s Health and Cancer/ Molecular Diagnostics business at Becton Dickinson in 2013 and joined Emergent Biosolutions as the SVP/ Business Unit Head for the Devices business. I have been here at Emergent since 2017.

2. Tell us about your role as the Senior Vice President, Device Business Unit Head at Emergent.

Our organization has four distinct business units, including Devices, Vaccines, Therapeutics and CDMO – I  head up our Devices BU – where we are laser focused on helping to address the opioid epidemic and delivering chemical counter measure solutions for nerve agent exposure to the U.S. and government partners.

Our flagship product is Narcan® (naloxone HCI) Nasal Spray for opioid overdose rescue. I have the pleasure of leading a tremendously passionate, empathetic, and purpose-driven organization that works tirelessly to deliver innovative products for our customers, first responders, and patients. We work with federal, state, community organizations, retail pharmacy chains, and insurance companies to help expand affordable access to Narcan and expand awareness of the risk of opioids and the need for community use of naloxone.

3. The BioBuzz community knows a lot about Emergent via our Virtual Recruiting Events (VREs) and articles. But, what is something about Emergent or working there that you think everyone should know?

We have a great culture that aligns on a common commitment to protect and enhance life. It doesn’t matter which business unit, function or location people work in, the passion and focus to deliver on our commitments and address public health threats is very strong.

4. What is a project that you’ve been working on that you’re most excited about? Tell us about it.

Everything we do to increase education and support across the opioid use/substance use disorder communities, while breaking down stigma, expanding access and awareness of Narcan is all so critical to us.

5. If You Had A Time Machine, Would You Go Back In Time Or Into The Future? Why? What would you do?

I would probably go back in time. I would love to see and spend more time with my parents and for my parents to get to know their grandkids as adults, and for my kids the chance to get to know their grandparents as healthy young adults.

Thank you to Doug White for participating in the ‘5 Questions with BioBuzz’ series and stay tuned for more interviews with others from across the BioHealth Capital Region and beyond.