After graduating from Carnegie-Mellon University with a BS and an MBA, Ms. Hess spent thirteen years at Merck. While at Merck, she held numerous positions in brand marketing, market research and managed care marketing, culminating in her appointment as VP of Merck's Institutional Business group. Ms. Hess began working for HIRC in 1995 and has contributed to the Employer & Coalition Service, as well as Managed Markets & National Accounts. Ms. Hess currently leads the primary research in managed markets tactics and strategies for the Managed Markets & National Accounts Service.

Ms. Bhala received her B.S. in Chemistry from Colorado State and began her career working for Eli Lilly in organic chemical research, followed by field sales. She subsequently earned her M.B.A. in Marketing from The Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Prior to joining HIRC in 1996, Ms. Bhala was Senior Director for Disease Management Strategy and Development with Merck-Medco. She also held various positions in market research, product management, and managed care research while at Merck-Medco. Since joining the HIRC team Ms. Bhala has supported research and analysis for all of HIRC syndicated research services, is an Account Manager for several pharmaceutical clients, and also launched and directed the eHealthRx Service. Ms. Bhala currently oversees primary research with 30+ individual market segments that influence the availability, price and purchase of prescription pharmaceuticals for the Managed
Markets & National Accounts Service.