Irish doctor Lorraine Nolan has taken over as head of the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA), the Lisbon-based organisation that provides independent research and analysis on all aspects of drug use.
Elected to the position last June, Dr Nolan succeeds Belgium’s Alex Goosdeel, who led the organisation for a decade. She is the organisation’s fourth executive director and the first woman to hold the position.
Since 2016 she had been chief executive of Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) and is credited with having led it through a period of reorganisation and expansion during a period that included the challenges of Brexit and Covid-19.
Dr Nolan had worked for the HPRA since 2001, having previously held a number of roles in both the private and public sectors.
At the time of her election to lead the EUDA, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said Dr Nolan was “exceptionally well qualified” to lead the organisation having “served with distinction as the chief executive of the HPRA”.
Taking up the role on Monday, Dr Nolan, who completed her PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry at Trinity College Dublin, said it was “a great honour to take on the leadership of the EUDA at this exciting stage of its development.
“By promoting collaboration across national, European and international partners and communities, we can enhance resilience, improve preparedness and support healthier, safer societies.
“The agency has a long history of scientific excellence. I am so proud to join such a highly committed team at a time when strong facts and evidence-based decision-making matter more than ever.”