Raymond V. Gilmartin, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Merck & Co., will deliver the Hatfield Address on "America's Leadership in Pharmaceutical Research: How Can We Keep Winning?" on Sept. 25 at 4:30 p.m. in Schwartz Auditorium of Rockefeller Hall on the Cornell University campus.

Cornell President Hunter Rawlings will introduce Gilmartin. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Gilmartin is the 1997 Robert S. Hatfield Fellow in Economic Education, the highest honor Cornell bestows on outstanding individuals from the corporate sector.

Gilmartin was named president and CEO of Merck in March 1994. By November of that year, he added chairman to the titles on his office door, becoming the first chairman selected from outside the company. He joined Merck from Becton Dickinson, a large supply company.

Merck, the world's second largest pharmaceutical company, is the maker of such drugs as Cozaar (for reducing hypertension), Varivax (to prevent chickenpox) and Pepcid AC (for the prevention and treatment of heartburn). In a move that Gilmartin called "one of Merck's greatest accomplishments," the company released the AIDS drug Crixivan in 1996. The company, with headquarters in Whitehouse Station, N.J., also produces compounds used to treat parasites in cattle and other animals and to protect crops from fungus and other pests. In 1993 Merck bought Medco Containment Services, the largest pharmacy benefits-management company in the U.S., processing and shipping prescriptions for more than 41 million Americans.

Merck, which ranks 48 in the Fortune 500, posted 1996 sales of over $19 billion, an 18.9 percent increase over 1995 figures.

Gilmartin's visit to Cornell is supported by the Hatfield Fund for Economic Education, which was established at Cornell in 1981 by the Continental Group Foundation to honor former Continental Chairman Robert S. Hatfield.

Prior to his address, Gilmartin will participate in classroom sessions in undergraduate economics and corporate leadership and a faculty roundtable; he also will tour the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and lunch with Merck Veterinary Medicine Leadership Scholars.