Medicines Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency
Statement from Dr June Raine, MHRA Chief Executive:
We at the MHRA were deeply saddened to hear that our former chairman Professor Sir Michael Rawlins has passed away at the age of 81. Sir Michael served with great distinction as chairman of the MHRA Board for six years, from 2014 until 2020.
Sir Michael was one of our countrys most eminent pharmacologists. He had a long association with our agency having first served as chair of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (now the Commission on Human Medicines) from 1992-1998.
From a lifetime of dedication and service to public health, Sir Michael was a stalwart champion of regulation, bringing immense experience and expertise, and guiding our Agency through a period of huge change, challenge, and transformation.
Sir Michael was a founding chairman of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence from 1999 to 2013. He also held roles as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs from 1998 to 2008 and president of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2012 to 2014. More recently he was chairman of UK Biobank until December 2019.
Sir Michael was an honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
In the1999 Queens New Year Honours Sir Michael wasknightedfor services to the improvement of patient protection from the side effects of medicines. In 2017 he was appointedKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire for services to the safety of medicines, healthcare, and innovation after more than three decades at the forefront of innovation, development, and leadership in the public health sector.
As well as his outstanding academic and scientific achievements, Sir Michael will be remembered for ensuring that the patient voice is heard throughout regulation.
On behalf of all present and former colleagues at the MHRA, I offer my deepest sympathies to Sir Michae