Council of Regulators

Ann Meeker-O’Connell is the Director of FDA’s Office of Clinical Policy in the Office of the Commissioner. In this role, she leads an organization that develops and implements cross-cutting policy related to clinical development and research ethics. Ms. Meeker-O’Connell has more than 20 years of experience in medical product development in government, academic, and industry settings, including prior FDA service as the Acting Director of the Division of Good Clinical Practice Compliance in CDER. She earned an MS in Pharmacology and was an NIH Integrated Toxicology Fellow at Duke University.

Dr. Younglim Kim is the Director General of the Drug Evaluation Department of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), Republic of Korea since July 2023. During her more than 30 years of work experience in MFDS, she took charge of several divisions as director (including the Gastroenterology and Antimicrobial Product Division, the Oncology and Antimicrobial Products Division and the Drug Research Division). Dr. Kim received a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the Seoul National University.

Dr Samvel Azatyan is a Paediatrician with a PhD in clinical pharmacology and medical products regulation. Over his more than 24 years at WHO, he has had a wide range of leadership roles associated with the regulation of medical products, including supporting regulatory collaboration, convergence and harmonization, as well as regulatory capacity building and facilitation of products introduction in the countries. Dr Azatyan has also led various projects aiming at development of national regulatory systems, as well as the development and implementation of the concept of reliance in regulation of medical products. Dr Azatyan is currently leading the Regulatory Convergence and Networks Team at the WHO's Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dr Cave joined the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in July 2021 as the Chief Safety Officer with responsibility for the safety of medicines and devices in the UK. She holds a BSc Honours degree and PhD from the University of London and has significant academic research and regulatory experience, the latter at both the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and MHRA. Previously she was Head of Cellular, Developmental and Physiological Sciences at the Wellcome Trust and most recently an Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Director at UK Research and Innovation.

Prior to joining DIA in 2023, Fathallah was the Operating Officer and EVP at Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, accountable for Operations, Post Market Product Science and Engineering, Regulatory, Quality, Medical, Clinical, Scientific Affairs, and Process Excellence. Before joining Ortho, he held Executive and Senior Leadership roles in Research and Development, Operations, and Regulatory Medical and Clinical Affairs at Avantor, Danaher, Pfizer, Hospira, and Abbott Laboratories. Fathallah holds a Master’s and Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Sabine Haubenreisser is a pharmacologist with special interest in scientific cooperation and regulatory convergence to the benefit of public health, through engagement with external stakeholders, the European network of experts and international partners and regulators. She has held positions at EMA in scientific divisions, international affairs and (currently) stakeholder engagement. She served 5 years as EMA Liaison Official at the US FDA, where she facilitated cooperation between the European Regulatory Network and the FDA. During this time, she oversaw completion of the EU/US Mutual Recognition Agreement on GMP inspections and development of new platforms for cooperation such as on patient engagement, rare diseases and pharmacometrics.

Yee Hoo Looi, PhD, is Deputy Director of Therapeutic Products Branch of the Health Products Regulation Group, Health Sciences Authority (HSA), which administers the regulation and pre-market evaluation for drug registration in Singapore. Dr. Looi started his HSA career as an evaluator for both clinical and toxicology review, and currently leads non-clinical evaluation and helps to oversee benefit-risk assessment for marketing approval. Prior to joining HSA, he conducted safety assessments of drug candidates as an industry pharmacologist. Dr. Looi earned his PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Strathclyde (United Kingdom), and completed his post-doctoral training, focusing on heart failure research, at King’s College London.

Dr. Jörg Schläpfer, PhD is the Head of Communication and Networking and Member of the Management Board of Swissmedic. He studied Veterinary Medicine at the University of Berne, completing his studies in 1991. After obtaining the title of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, completing his PhD and undertaking 12 years of academic research, he was employed by a number of companies in various roles within the pharmaceutical industry from 2002 to 2015. Since the end of 2015, Jörg Schläpfer has been Head of Division Process Development and Support in the Authorisation sector at Swissmedic as well as Deputy Head of the sector.

Sophie Sommerer is the Director General of Health Canada’s Biologic and Radiopharmaceutical Drugs Directorate. She is responsible for regulating biologic drugs (including vaccines), radiopharmaceuticals, blood, cells, tissues and organs, and products for Assisted Human Reproduction. Prior to this, she held various positions in the Marketed Health Products Directorate, where she oversaw pharmacovigilance and risk management activities of medical, scientific and regulatory experts. Sophie spent the first 10 years of her public service career working on various health promotion policy initiatives at the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Patricia Oliveira Pereira Tagliari holds a master’s degree in Public Health (Global Health and Health Diplomacy) from the National School of Public Health (2014), specializations in Health Regulation and Surveillance (2010) and Health Law (2007), both from Fiocruz, and a degree in International Affairs from the University of Brasilia (2004). She is currently a government employee, specialist in health regulation and surveillance, at the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency - Anvisa. From April 2020 to the present date, Ms. Tagliari has served as Associate Director at Anvisa. Prior to that, she served as Advisor at Anvisa’s Office of Inspection and Health Surveillance and as the Head of Anvisa's International Affairs Office.

Yoshiaki Uyama, PhD, is Director, Office of Medical Informatics and Epidemiology, for the Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), Japan. His experience in the safety review and assessment of new drugs for PMDA includes serving as the Review Director; as International Conference on Harmonisation Technical Coordinator; as ICH E15 and E16 topic leader; as Division Director, Regulatory Science Research; as Division Director, Review Planning and Pharmaceutical Affairs Consultation; as Director, Division of Epidemiology; and as Rapporteur of the International Conference on Harmonisation E17 Expert Working Group. Dr. Uyama earned his PhD from Nagoya City University and his post-doctoral research focused on promoting science within Japan.