Emer Cooke nominated as new EMA Executive Director

The European Medicines Agency Management Board has nominated Emer Cooke as the new Executive Director of the agency. At an extraordinary virtual session on 25 June, the Board selected Emer Cooke from a shortlist of candidates created by the European Commission.

Cooke will now be invited to give a statement to the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on 13 July 2020. The appointment of the new Executive Director will only be made after that meeting.

Emer Cooke, an Irish national, is currently the Director of the Regulation and Prequalification Department at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, a position she has held since November 2016. In this role she leads on WHO’s global work on health technologies regulation, including prequalification, regulatory systems strengthening and safety activities. Her role also covers assurance of quality, safety, efficacy and performance of health technologies in close conjunction with member states and international partners.

Ms Cooke has 30 years’ experience in international regulatory affairs, 18 years of which were in leadership roles. She worked for the pharmaceutical unit of the European Commission from 1998 to 2002 and at EMA between 2002 and 2016, where she held positions including Head of Inspections and Head of International Affairs.

Ms Cooke holds a degree in pharmacy from Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland. She has additional Masters degrees in Science and in Business Administration, also from Trinity.