Emer Cooke is an Irish pharmacist and Executive Director of the

European Medicines Agency The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) in charge of the evaluation and supervision of medicinal products. Prior to 2004, it was known as the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products or Euro ...

(EMA) since November 2020. She is also the chairperson at the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA).

Education

Cooke obtained a pharmacy degree at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, Ireland in 1982, following which she remained at Trinity to complete Master's degrees in Science and in Business Administration

Career

Starting in 1985, she held various positions in the pharmaceutical sector. From 1992 to 1995 and from 1996 to 1998 she worked for the lobbying organisation

European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) is a Brussels-based trade association and lobbying organisation, founded in 1978 and representing the research-based pharmaceutical industry operating in Europe. Throug ...

(EFPIA) as Manager of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs. She was Principal Administrator in the Pharmaceuticals Unit of the European Commission between 1998 and 2002, with responsibility for inspections, international activities and legislative initiatives. Ms Cooke joined EMA on 1 July 2002 where she worked first as Head of Inspections and then as Head of International Affairs. From 2021 she was appointed as Head of Regulation of Medicines and other Health Technologies with the World Health Organization (WHO).

EMA executive director

In November 2020 Cooke was appointed Executive Director of the EMA, also taking the position of chairperson at the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) at the same time. This was in the context of the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On 16 March 2021, Cooke led an EMA press conference to inform about the ongoing investigation into reports of side-effects related to the

Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine The Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID19 vaccine, sold under the brand names Covishield and Vaxzevria among others, is a viral vector vaccine for prevention of COVID-19. Developed in the United Kingdom by Oxford University and British-Swedish comp ...

. Cooke said the EMA remains "firmly convinced" that the vaccine benefits outweigh the risks of potential side effects. Cooke's appointment was criticized in a session of the

Austrian Parliament The Austrian Parliament (german: Österreichisches Parlament) is the bicameral federal legislature of the Austrian Republic. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene ...

on 1 April 2021 when

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Gerald Hauser Gerald Hauser (born 30 September 1961) is an Austrian politician who is a Member of the National Council for the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ The Freedom Party of Austria (german: Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ) is a right-wing ...

claimed a potential

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

between her allowing the vaccine in her regulatory function, while having worked for the very same industry as a

lobbyist In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

in the past.

References

Notes

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Emer 1971 births Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Irish lobbyists Living people