Pindaros Roy Vagelos (born October 8, 1929, in Westfield, New Jersey) is an American physician and business executive, who was president and chief executive officer (1985) and chairman (1986) of the American pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. (known as MSD outside the U.S.).

[3] After winning a partial scholarship, he left his family's small restaurant in Rahway, to become a doctor.

[5] Vagelos deferred military service while in medical school, but he was obligated to serve a two-year stint as an Army doctor.

In 1995, Vagelos received the NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society and was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame.

[9][10] In 2013, Vagelos was invited to speak at the first annual Stony Brook University Research Your Future Symposium.

[11] In the mid-1980s, Merck & Co. discovered the drug ivermectin, capable of combatting the parasite that causes river blindness.

[17] In March 2023, the Vageloses donated $175 million to Columbia to establish the Vagelos Institute for Biomedical Research Education.

[18] In August 2024, the Vageloses donated an additional $400 million to Columbia to further "biomedical science research and education and produce a vast array of compelling opportunities for improving society’s health and wellbeing.