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Sir Michael David Rawlins GBE FBPhS FMedSci (born 28 March 1941) is the chair of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). He took up post formally from 1 December 2014 and was reappointed for a second term in August 2017. The appointment will be for three years. He is also currently Chairman of UK Biobank.
He is an Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
He was Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) from 1999 to 2013. He was President of the Royal Society of Medicine from 2012 to 2014.
Education
Rawlins obtained his undergraduate medical degree at St Thomas' Hospital, graduating in 1965. His post-graduate training in clinical pharmacology and general medicine was completed at St Thomas' and the Hammersmith hospitals, with a year at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
Career
From 1973 to 2006, Rawlins was the Ruth and Lionel Jacobson Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at Newcastle University where he undertook research into the safety and efficacy of new and established pharmacological treatments. At the same time he was consultant physician to the Newcastle University Hospitals where he practised clinical pharmacology and general internal medicine.
He became a member of the Committee on Safety of Medicines in 1980, was vice-chair from 1987 to 1992 and served as chair from 1993 to 1998. He was appointed chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs in 1998 and served until 2008. He was the Chair of NICE from its foundation (as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) in 1999 until April 2013. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of Incentives for Global Health, the not-for-profit behind the Health Impact Fund.
Rawlins has published numerous articles, book chapters, and official publications. He has delivered the Bradshaw (1986), William Withering (1994), Samuel Gee (2006), and Harveian (2008) lectures at the Royal College of Physicians. He was awarded the Hutchinson Medal in 2003, the Galen Medal in 2010, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research in 2011. In 2012 he was awarded the Prince Mahidol Prize for Medicine. In 2010 he helped establish the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Huntington's disease in the UK Parliament,supported by more than 40 MPs and peers.
In November 2014 the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced the appointment of Professor Sir Michael Rawlins as its new Chair.
He was knighted in the 1999 New Year Honours for services to the improvement of patient protection from the side effects of medicines and was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to the safety of medicines, healthcare, and innovation.
