Sir Dennis Gillings, CBE, FMedSci
Non-Executive Chair and Founder
Sir Dennis Gillings is co-founder and former CEO and Executive Chairman of Quintiles which merged with IMS in 2016 and is now IQVIA. Dennis served on the IQVIA Board as Lead Director until retiring in 2018. In 2014, Dennis was appointed World Dementia Envoy by former UK Prime Minister David Cameron. In this capacity, Dennis helped found and became first Chairman of the World Dementia Council, an organization that seeks to reduce cognitive decline. In particular, as Envoy, he worked with governments and major institutions to provide leadership to address economic, regulatory, and social barriers to the prevention, treatment and care of dementia.
Prior to founding Quintiles, Dennis was a Professor of Biostatistics at the School of Public Health (now the Gillings School of Global Public Health) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Among many honors he has received, Dennis was awarded the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2004 for services to the pharmaceutical industry and was knighted in 2020 for services to the advancement of dementia and life sciences research. In 2012, he received the SCRIP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his contributions to the pharmaceutical industry. He has received fellowships and honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions including UNC Chapel Hill, UCL, Kings College, Queen Mary, Southampton University, Exeter University and The UK Academy of Medical Sciences recognizing his academic and commercial contributions to the life sciences.