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About the Institute

  • Murray Aitken

  • Executive Director, IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics


  • Murray Aitken is executive director responsible for leading the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics. The Institute provides policy setters and decision makers in the global health sector with objective, transformational insights into healthcare dynamics derived from granular analysis of information.

    In this role since January 2011, Murray previously was senior vice president, Healthcare Insight, leading IMS’s thought leadership initiatives worldwide. Before that, he served as senior vice president, Corporate Strategy from 2004 to 2007. Murray joined IMS in 2001 with responsibility for developing the company’s consulting and services businesses.

    Murray writes and speaks regularly on the challenges facing the global healthcare industry and prospects for improving patient outcomes, managing costs and maximizing access globally through better use of healthcare information. He is regularly quoted in major trade and general media, including Bloomberg, The Financial Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Associated Press and Reuters, and in 2005 was named by PharmaVOICE as one of the 100 most inspiring business leaders. Murray is editor of HealthIQ, a publication focused on the value of information in advancing evidence-based healthcare, and also serves on the editorial advisory board of Pharmaceutical Executive.

    Murray’s recent research has focused on the changing dynamics of drug spending and related policy issues and been published in Health Affairs and as working papers from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

    Prior to joining IMS, Murray had a 14-year career with McKinsey & Company. He was a leader in the Pharmaceutical and Medical Products practice from 1997-2001. Prior to that, Murray helped to establish the company’s Korea office, where for six years he advised the senior management of major Korean conglomerates.

    Murray received an M.B.A. degree with distinction from Harvard University, and holds a Master of Commerce degree from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.