Former GP to chair UK’s MHRA

Anthony Harnden has been appointed as the new chair of the UK’s Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

A professor of primary care at the University of Oxford, and until the end of December 2024, a registrant council member of the General Medical Council and chair of the renumeration committee, he worked for the National Health Service (NHS) for 40 years, 33 of them spent as a general practitioner (GP).

Professor Harnden was also previously deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and played a key role in ensuring public trust and patient safety during the distribution of the Covid vaccine.