How Pam Cheng Champions Health Equity at AstraZeneca

Pam Cheng, Executive Vice President, Global Operations & IT and Chief Sustainability Officer at AstraZeneca, has been ranked in fourth place in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 Sustainability Leaders 2026.

Her work at AstraZeneca includes improving health equity and helping reduce the company’s carbon footprint, while delivering quality care to billions of people.

About Pam’s career journey

Before starting her career, Pam received a Bachelor of Engineering and a Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering, as well as a Master of Business Administration.

She then began work as an Engineer, before working in global supply chain management and logistics for pharmaceutical company Merck.

She took on her current role at AstraZeneca in 2015 and has held the position for more than 10 years.

Pam is also a Board Member for Smiths Group and Stevens Institute of Technology, where she gained her engineering degrees.

On LinkedIn, she describes herself as a “biopharmaceutical executive with a global career spanning manufacturing operations, pharmaceutical development, supply chain and logistics, commercial operations and Information Technology”.

What is AstraZeneca’s sustainability strategy?

Pam leads AstraZeneca’s sustainability efforts, including its ‘Ambition Zero Carbon’ strategy, which targets a 98% reduction in emissions by 2026.

The company focuses on the interconnection between business growth and addressing major health challenges, as well as making a positive impact for people, society and the planet.

It collaborates with governments, health systems, patient groups, academia and NGOs to focus its shared efforts to have the greatest impact.

AstraZeneca has a particular focus on the resilience of health systems and health equity, working on bridging healthcare gaps, promoting healthier behaviours and enabling early disease detection.

It is helping to strengthen health systems in order to respond to health crises while managing ongoing population health needs.

Across its value chain, AstraZeneca’s focus is on decarbonisation, while accelerating the delivery of net zero, sustainable healthcare.

It is managing its impact on nature and investing in biodiversity and reforestation efforts.

Alongside its sustainability journey, AstraZeneca is growing its delivery of healthcare outcomes across its business.

“In 2025, we saw strong commercial performance across our therapy areas and excellent pipeline delivery,” says Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca. “We announced the results of 16 positive Phase 3 studies during the year and now have 16 blockbuster medicines.

“The momentum across our company is continuing in 2026 and we are looking forward to the results of more than 20 Phase 3 trial readouts this year.

“We have more than 100 Phase 3 studies ongoing, including a substantial and growing number of trials of our transformative technologies which have the potential to revolutionise outcomes for patients and drive our growth well beyond 2030.”

All sustainability, net zero and sustainable supply chain leaders should attend:

• Sustainability LIVE: The Net Zero Summit - QEII Centre, London, March 4-5
• Sustainability LIVE: The US Summit - Navy Pier, Chicago, April 21-22

Co-located with Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE, these events brings together CSOs, ESG leaders and senior decision-makers at a moment when sustainability, supply chains and commercial performance are increasingly interconnected.

Tickets can be booked online today for The Net Zero Summit and The US Summit. Group discounts available.

How Pam embeds sustainability

At AstraZeneca, Pam works on reaching patients most in need through vital scientific advancements, while having a positive impact on the environment.

She says that she has a passion for driving talent development, inclusion and diversity, making meaningful differences and driving innovation.

In her work, she focuses on making lasting connections with a range of people with diverse perspectives and experiences.

Pam says: “We are in an exciting era of science and innovation that holds the promise of delivering medical breakthroughs and transforming healthcare for billions of people worldwide.

“At AstraZeneca, we recognise we have an important role to play in realising this potential.

“We want to close healthcare gaps to improve health equity, strengthen the resilience of health systems to meet current and future needs and support the health of our planet by reducing our environmental footprint and investing in climate and nature action.”