ICMRA Chair

The Chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA) is Professor Anthony (Tony) Lawler. He began his mandate as ICMRA Chair on 23 October 2025.

Professor Tony Lawler is the Head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) which is part of the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing. The TGA works to safeguard and enhance the health of all Australians through effective, timely and risk-proportionate regulation of therapeutic goods, and the control of drug imports, exports and production. He is also a Champion of the Department’s Health Pride Network.

Prior to joining the Department in June 2023, Tony was the Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Secretary- Clinical Quality, Regulation and Accreditation with the Tasmanian Department of Health. This role included providing leadership to health professionals, system-wide clinical governance oversight, and the regulation of private health service establishments.

Having studied medicine at the University of Tasmania, Tony has worked in the health system as a Specialist Emergency Physician, Specialist Medical Administrator, and senior health public servant for almost 30 years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tony was the Tasmanian Health Service Emergency Operations Commander.

Tony has previously held positions as Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer, President of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, a member of the Board of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care and the Council of the National Health and Medical Research Council, and Deputy Head of the Tasmanian School of Medicine.

Tony holds Professorial positions at the University of Tasmania, and the Australian National University.
 

Previous ICMRA Chairs

  • Emer Cooke, Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) (2020 - 2025)
  • Guido Rasi, Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) (2019 - 2020)
  • Ian Hudson, Chief Executive of the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) (2016 - 2019)
  • Pierre Sabourine, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Health Products and Food Branch at Health Canada (2014 – 2016)
  • Paul Glover, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Health Products and Food Branch at Health Canada (2013)