Azar joins Lilly to lead corporate, community affairs

Eli Lilly and Co. said today it has hired Alex M. Azar II as senior vice president of corporate affairs and communications.

Azar comes to Lilly from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he was a deputy overseeing the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prior to his deputy position, he was Health and Human Services general counsel.

At Lilly, Azar’s responsibilities include lobbying, public policy and planning, external and internal communications and fighting counterfeit medications.

A Yale Law School graduate, Azar clerked for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and was a partner in the Washington, D.C., law firm Wiley, Rein & Fielding.