Honorary Co-Chairs
We are pleased to announce our three DIA 2021 Honorary Co-Chairs! Their focus is on how COVID has highlighted the importance of international collaboration.
Emer Cooke, MBA, MSc, Executive Director, European Medicines Agency (EMA), The Netherlands
Yasuhiro Fujiwara, PhD, MD, Chief Executive of Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), Japan
Janet Woodcock, MD, Acting Commissioner, FDA
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Biographies
Emer Cooke, MBA, MSc
Ms. Cooke was nominated as Executive Director with a renewable five-year mandate by the Agency’s Management Board on June 25, 2020, and is the first woman at the helm of EMA. "I take up the role of Executive Director of EMA amid a public health crisis of unprecedented scale,” said Emer Cooke on her first day in office. “My number one priority will be to drive forward EMA’s response to the pandemic and the work already ongoing to support the development and approval of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.” Ms. Cooke obtained her degree in Pharmacy from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. She has additional Masters degrees in Science and Business Administration, also from Trinity.
Yasuhiro Fujiwara, PhD, MD
Dr. Fujiwara Yasuhiro has been Chief Executive of PMDA since April 2019. He is a medical oncologist, specializing in breast cancer. He was previously Director-General of Strategic Planning Bureau of the National Cancer Center, and the Deputy Director of the Hospital (Research), National Cancer Center Hospital (NCCH). Before joining NCCH, he was a deputy director of the Evaluation Division II, PMDEC, from 1997 to 2002. PMDEC was a predecessor of PMDA. From 2011 to 2013, he was a Deputy Secretary General of Office of Medical Innovation, Cabinet Secretariat of Japan, and led health policy issues regarding life science.
Janet Woodcock, MD
Dr. Janet Woodcock began her long and distinguished FDA career in 1986. In 1994, Dr. Woodcock was named Director of the CDER, overseeing the center’s work that is the world’s gold standard for drug approval and safety. In that position, she has led many of the FDA’s groundbreaking drug initiatives. She has also served in other leadership roles at the FDA, including as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer. With the onset of the COVID-19 public health emergency last year, Dr. Woodcock was asked to lend her expertise to “Operation Warp Speed” the initiative to develop therapeutics in response to the pandemic. Dr. Woodcock was named Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs on January 20, 2021.