MHRA selects Prof Jacob George as its first Chief Medical and Scientific Officer

Professor Jacob George has been appointed as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) first Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, a role he will assume on 5 January 2026.

The new position was created to shape the future of the agency’s regulatory strategy, which includes the MHRA’s recently announced overhaul of its regulatory pathway for rare disease therapies.

George currently serves as Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of Dundee Medical School, and as consultant physician and clinical lead for the Cardiovascular Risk service in NHS Tayside.

Lawrence Tallon, MHRA Chief Executive, said: “I know that Professor George will be a prominent voice for the MHRA, championing effective regulation, patient safety and the UK’s position as a global life sciences powerhouse. His responsibilities will include leading our Science Campus, and our science and innovation strategies.”

Professor George added: “I’m delighted to be joining the MHRA at an important time for the agency and the UK life sciences sector. The MHRA has a direct influence on the safety and effectiveness of the medicines, vaccines, and health technologies used every day by millions of people across the UK, and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues to make a major contribution to high quality patient care and life sciences innovation.”

He currently holds key regulatory roles within the sector as a member of the Delivery Group and Management Board for the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway (ILAP), he is the current Co-Chair on the National Institutes of Health Research (NIHR) Capital Investment Funding Committee and has been Senior Health Technology Advisor to NICE.

As well as being qualified in Clinical Pharmacology and General Internal Medicine, he has extensive experience in cardiovascular medicine. Professor George is an accredited European Hypertension Specialist, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburgh, European Society of Cardiology and the British Hypertension Society, and a visiting Professor at the Dnipro State Medical University, Ukraine.

Additionally, he chairs the Scottish Government Access to New Medicines, Horizon Scanning Advisory Board (HSAB), and is National Clinical Lead for the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC). He is an alumnus of the Universities of Sheffield and Dundee.

Professor George has also served as an International Expert Advisory Member of the Malaysian Scientific Review Panel for Phase I Clinical Trials since 2017.