EMA nominates Emer Cooke as new executive director

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) Management Board has nominated Emer Cooke as its new executive director.

Cooke, an Irish national, currently serves as the director of regulation and prequalification department at the World Health Organization, where she leads health technologies regulation efforts. Her department also is responsible for working with member states and international partners to monitor the quality, safety, efficacy, and performance of health technologies.

Emer Cooke. Image courtesy of the European Medicine Agency.

The board selected Cooke from a shortlist of candidates during a virtual session on 25 June. The nomination process includes a statement and a question-and-answer session. The nominee needs to receive at least 24 votes out of the 36 board members.

Next, Cooke will make a statement to the European Parliament's Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on 13 July. She will then be appointed executive director pending a letter from the president of the European Parliament to the EMA Management Board.

Cooke has 30 years of experience in international regulatory roles, including work for the pharmaceutical unit of the European Commission and the EMA. She received a pharmacy degree, Master of Science degree, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Trinity College in Dublin.