Abbott Executive Kathryn Nattier McFarland joins CCIL Board of Directors

Graciously contributing your time, talents and treasures are the foundation of philanthropy and for Kathryn Nattier McFarland, Ph.D. Divisional Vice President, Life Cycle Management at Abbott, the global health care company based in north suburban Chicago. McFarland has gone above and beyond in offering her resources throughout the years to CCIL, a non-profit organization leading the way in empowering homeless individuals and families. Her efforts are soaring to an even higher level as she recently joined the Board of Directors for the organization.

“Kathy McFarland is a very insightful woman with great integrity. I’m honored to know her and that she chose CCIL as a primary agency to devote her time for at least three years. Kathy has already been proactive in spearheading a Presbyterian Outreach day at our main campus highlighting CCIL’s 100 years of service to Chicago’s homeless - I’m quite confident she’ll do exceptionally well as a CCIL board member and getting people more involved with our mission,” said Mary Shaver, CCIL Interim Executive Director.

Kathy McFarland of Lake Forest, Illinois, Ph.D. joined Abbott March 3, 1980 and has held a variety of positions. During her tenure in Chemical Development she led the development, manufacturing, scale-up, and regulatory filings for more than 30 drugs and was named Divisional Vice President in 1999. In particular, she was pivotal in heading up the reformulation task force that successfully addressed Ritonavir Crystal Form 2, continuing to make NORVIR available to AIDS patients around the world. She headed the TriCor (a lipid lowering drug) project team leading to the successful launch of the next generation product in November 2004. As Program Head for Synthroid, she spearheaded a successful strategy integrating technical and commercial elements and culminating in the approval of New Drug Application keeping this key drug available to patients. She became Divisional Vice President of Life Cycle Management in Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development in 2002. In this role she has responsibility to assure that every drug at Abbott has a lifecycle management plan for product improvement incorporated into its business strategy. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the Abbott women’s leadership initiative “Women Leaders in Action.” She is Chair of the Development Board of the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. McFarland received her Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from the University of Missouri-Columbia.