Press release: MHRA welcomes a new Director of Medical Devices

Press release

Date:	Wednesday 8 February 2012
Time:	14:00
Contact:	Press Office 020 3080 7651 or press.office@mhra.gsi.gov.uk Out-of-hours 07770 446 189

John Wilkinson OBE joins the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as Director of Medical Devices this week.

John’s role will be to lead on the safety of medical devices and he will be instrumental in reviewing future medical devices regulation.

John Wilkinson said, “As the new MHRA Director of Medical Devices, my aim is to ensure high levels of patient safety whilst creating the right environment for medical devices to develop at a pace which continues to improve people’s lives and contributes to a sustainable development of our health services.”

John has wide-ranging experience of the medical device technology sectors in Europe, the United States and UK and he is a respected figure in this field.

His most recent position was as Chief Executive of EUCOMED, the leading Brussels-based medical technology organisation.

Prior to that he was Director General of the Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI) for four years, the leading trade association for the medical technology sector in the UK.

Notes to Editor

1. The MHRA is the government agency responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work, and are acceptably safe. No product is risk-free. Underpinning all our work lie robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits to patients and the public justify the risks. We keep watch over medicines and devices, and take any necessary action to protect the public promptly if there is a problem. We encourage everyone – the public and healthcare professionals as well as the industry – to tell us about any problems with a medicine or medical device, so that we can investigate and take any necessary action.