Sue Hite

I began my career in 1984 in biochemical engineering at Merck, doing process development for microbial and fungal organisms in different sized tanks to make natural products. I worked with microbiologists and chemists, and the products would go through isolation, safety and efficacy testing, clinical trials, and eventually FDA approval for manufacturing. I traveled to Pennsylvania to develop new vaccines and trained people on the technology. I was part of the team that made the first AIDS drug on the market in the pilot plant, which is a huge honor for me. I have a framed capsule of it in my living room that the company gave me. After my director moved me to chemical engineering, I ran batches of APIs in the large-scale organics pilot plant with mostly male operators. I worked with two different bosses and published many papers and earned patents. I also served as technical assistant to the VP of science, engineering, and technology worldwide, and he sent me on a 10-day business trip to Europe to meet with plant managers in five countries. When I was laid off with 30,000 others, I received a bridged retirement package, but I was too young not to work. I got hired as Associate Director in Vaccine Development at Wyeth, where I led the startup of a new full-scale development facility for vaccine clinical trials with a staff of 76 people and 4 managers overseeing fermentation, purification, and central services groups. I later became site manager for change control and regulatory liaison, handling all annual reports and FDA filings for about a dozen products, and I handled FDA and MCA inspections. Wyeth was eventually bought by Pfizer. I retired in 2010 after 26 years in the pharmaceutical industry. Throughout my career, I was always a minority as a woman, working in male-dominated environments.