Rate My Professor Michael Exton

Dr. Michael Exton is an Adjunct Professor of Practice in the Newcastle Business School at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He is a proud alumnus of the university, having earned a Bachelor of Science with Honours in 1993 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Science in 1996. Exton furthered his academic training with a PhD in Immunology from the University of Essen, Germany. His early research focused on psychoneuroimmunology and neuroscience, investigating brain-immune communication, conditioned immunosuppression, T-cell migration, and physiological responses such as fever and arousal states. Key publications from this period include "Conditioning in the rat: an in vivo model to investigate the molecular mechanisms and clinical implications of brain-immune communication" (Immunological Reviews, 2001), "Migration of naive, effector and memory T cells: implications for the regulation of immune responses" (Immunological Reviews, 2001), "Adenovirus-mediated Bcl-2 gene transfer inhibits apoptosis and promotes survival of allogeneic transplanted hepatocytes" (Surgery, 2001), "Kupffer cells of cirrhotic rat livers sensitize colon cancer cells to Fas-mediated apoptosis" (British Journal of Cancer, 2001), and "Conditioned immunosuppression makes subtherapeutic cyclosporin effective via splenic innervation" (American Journal of Physiology, 1998).

Exton has forged a remarkable career in the biopharmaceutical industry, spanning over two decades. He held various leadership positions at Novartis across Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States during his 14-year tenure. Notably, as Vice President and Head of the US and Global Cardiovascular Businesses from 2018 to 2022, he expanded the cardiovascular renal and metabolism franchise into the largest in the pharmaceutical industry by revenue and headcount, achieving USD 4 billion in sales and managing a team of approximately 2,000. Under his leadership, the team launched sacubitril/valsartan (Entresto), the first new heart failure medicine in over 20 years, treating more than one million patients and adding an estimated 1.5 million years of life in the US population. In July 2024, Exton was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Director of Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he oversees the development of innovative therapies for diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. His contributions have been recognized with the University of Newcastle International Leadership Award in 2022, as well as being named New South Wales winner and national finalist for Young Australian of the Year in 1996. Exton also holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt certification from the Australian Society for Quality.