MHRA’s Director of Devices to Step Down
After more than seven years with the agency, John Wilkinson, director of devices at the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will step down from his position at the end of October.A champion of the new EU regulations on medical devices and IVDs, Wilkinson worked to investigate reports of device problems and to advise health professionals and companies on the safe use of devices. Wilkinson also chaired the Competent Authorities Medical Devices (CAMD) Executive, which seeks to enhance collaboration between EU member states and the European Commission in developing and managing the device regulatory system.
“These decisions are never easy to make, and with a very heavy heart, I have now decided to step down from my role at the Agency. I felt that now was the right time for me to move on to the next stage of my life,” Wilkinson said in a statement issued Wednesday. “It’s for others to judge for themselves the work I’ve done, but my aim has always been 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.”
A speaker at last year’s RAPS Convergence, Wilkinson made the case for companies to stay on top of the shift to the new EU device and IVD regulations.
Prior to his work at the MHRA, Wilkinson was chief executive of Eucomed, the European medical technology industry association. He also served previously as director general of the Association of British Healthcare Industries and in different roles in the medical devices industry, both in the UK and the US, with Becton Dickinson and the BOC Group.