European medicines agency appoints senior medical officer
Press release
Thomas Lönngren, Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency, today announced the appointment of Professor Hans-Georg Eichler, MD, MSc, as the Agency's Senior Medical Officer.
The creation of the Senior Medical Officer post is intended to consolidate the Agency's increased scientific role following recent changes in EU pharmaceutical legislation, and underlines the commitment to enhance the scientific competence of the Agency.
The Senior Medical Officer will advise the Executive Director on a range of matters relating to the Agency's mission to protect and promote public and animal health. The role involves coordinating activities between the Agency's scientific committees, and advising on scientific and public health issues, with a particular focus on clinical and pre-clinical aspects of medicines for human use. He will have a key role, together with the Heads of Unit responsible for human and veterinary medicines, in a number of projects aimed at ensuring high-quality decisions by the Agency's committees and reinforcing the consistency of those decisions.
Hans-Georg Eichler, who will take up this new post in February 2007, is currently Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He is a former member of the Agency's Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products, and is currently a member of the CHMP Scientific Advice Working Party.
Announcing the appointment, Thomas Lönngren said, “Hans-Georg Eichler will bring a wealth of experience from his background in academia, medical practice, medical research and outcomes research. He will complement the scientific expertise of the Agency, and help us to reinforce the EMEA's position as a world-class, science-driven regulator of medicines.”
In accepting the post, Professor Eichler said, “I am looking forward to this opportunity to participate in developing further the scientific quality of the Agency. The EMEA offers a unique working environment with a high density of expertise that is not readily available elsewhere.”
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NOTES:
1. Professor Eichler has been Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, since 1992. In 2003, he assumed the position of Vice Rector for Research and International Relations at the same University. Professor Eichler holds an MD from the Vienna University Medical School, Austria, and a Master of Science in toxicology from the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK. He received his clinical training at the Vienna University Hospital and the Poison Control Centre, in Austria, as well as at Stanford University, USA. He gained experience in outcomes research most recently as a visiting professor of outcomes research at the world headquarters of Merck & Co. Prior to that, his research took him to several institutions in the USA, the UK and South Africa. Professor Eichler is a member of several medical advisory boards at the Austrian Ministry of Health. Since 2000, he has been President of the Vienna School of Clinical Research.
2. Professor Eichler was a member of the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products from April 2000 to June 2002, and has twice served as a member of the CHMP Scientific Advice Working Party.