The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency today announced the appointment of Professor Sir Michael Rawlins as its new Chair. He will take up post formally from 01 December 2014 and his appointment will be for three years.

Professor Sir Michael will take over from Sir Gordon Duff who announced his intention to step down earlier this year, following his election as Principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford.

Professor Sir Michael Rawlins was until recently Chair of the National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE), a role from which he stood down in 2013. He is also currently Chairman of Biobank.

Professor Sir Michael Rawlins said:

“It will be a tremendous honour to take up the agency’s chair, whose vital work as the UK’s regulator of medicines and medical devices is underpinned by first-class science and research carried out at each of the agency’s centres; the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD), the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and MHRA.

“Sir Gordon has overseen a very successful and crucial period of major change in the agency’s history and I am looking forward to taking that on, as we seek to provide an innovative, transparent and cost-efficient service to further protect and improve public health.”

For more details, go to: http://www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON471139