British clinical pharmacologist Sir Michael David Rawlins (28 March 1941 – 1 January 2023) served as head of UK Biobank from December 2018 to December 2019.
He also served as chair of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency from 2014 to 2020. From 1999 to 2013, he served as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) chair. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the Royal Society of Medicine’s president.
Michael Rawlins graduated from St Thomas’ Hospital in London in 1965 after earning his medical degree there. At St. Thomas’ and Hammersmith’s hospitals, along with a year spent at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, he completed his post-graduate training in clinical pharmacology and general medicine.
Rawlins served as Newcastle University’s Ruth and Lionel Jacobson Professor of Clinical Pharmacology from 1973 to 2006.
He joined the Committee on Safety of Medicines in 1980 and held the positions of vice-chair from 1987 to 1992 and chair from 1993 to 1998. He served as the Advisory Council on Drug Misuse’s chairman from 1998 to 2008 after being appointed to the position. From the time NICE was founded (as the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) in 1999 until April 2013, he served as its chair.
He served on the board of advisors for Incentives for Global Health, the nonprofit organization that created the Health Impact Fund.
Many papers, book chapters, and official publications were written and published by Rawlins.
At the Royal College of Physicians, he gave Bradshaw (1986), William Withering (1994), Samuel Gee (2006), and Harveian (2008) lectures.
The International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research presented him with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, the Galen Medal in 2010, and the Hutchinson Medal in 2003. He received the Prince Mahidol Prize for Medicine in 2012. More than 40 MPs and peers joined him in establishing the all-party parliamentary group for Huntington’s disease in the UK Parliament in 2010.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency announced in November 2014 that Rawlins had been appointed as its new Chair[8], and in 2017 this appointment was extended for an additional three years.
In the 1999 New Year Honours, Rawlins received a knighthood for his contributions to enhancing patient protection from medication side effects. In the 2017 Birthday Honours, he was named a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) for his contributions to the advancement of medication safety, healthcare, and innovation.
He held honorary professorships at the University of London’s London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Michael Rawlins children: Meet Lucy Sarah Rawlins, Victoria Jane Rawlins
Lucy Sarah Rawlins was born on the 9th of December 1965 and is currently 57 years.
Michael Rawlin’s older daughter Victoria Jane Rawlins was born on February 6, 1964, and is currently 58.
The two daughters of the late clinical pharmacologist have been out of the spotlight for most of their lives successfully keeping their private lives a mystery.
