Justin McCarthy is the senior vice president of global policy and international public affairs at Pfizer, where he defines the company’s public policy positions and advances government and public affairs strategies on a worldwide scale.

Born in Massachusetts, Justin is a board member of the Business Council for International Understanding, the Global Intellectual Property Center, and the United States Council for International Business, and a harmonization subcommittee member of the HHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections. He holds a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of Rhode Island and a J.D. from the Catholic University of America.

Justin, whose paternal family hails from Co. Cork, is a third-generation Irish American. He finds that his heritage grounds him: “Wherever I go, or whatever obstacles I encounter, I remember where I am from and what I can achieve.” He and his wife, Lisa, instill this way of thinking in their sons, Matthew and Thomas, and currently live in Connecticut.