EMA: Prof. Steffen Thirstrup

Steffen Thirstrup has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

In this role, he will provide scientific leadership across EMA and its scientific committees to reinforce the Agency’s capacity to respond to public health challenges and emergencies, and shape EMA’s contribution to EU-health initiatives such as the fight against antimicrobial resistance or Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan. He will also be EMA’s “medical voice” with external stakeholders and explain the considerations that underpin EMA’s regulatory decisions on the benefits and risks of medicinal products.

Prof. Thirstrup is a medical doctor with a PhD in pharmacology and broad clinical experience in general internal medicine. He previously led the Division for Medicines Assessment and Clinical Trials at the Danish Health and Medicines Authority and was the Danish member of EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP). He was also a member of EMA’s Committee for Advanced Therapies (CAT), the Chairperson of the CHMP’s Respiratory Drafting Group and Co-Chair of the European Commission Working Group on Market Access of Biosimilars.

Prof. Thirstrup is Affiliate Professor at the University of Copenhagen and has worked across a broad range of therapeutic areas throughout different stages of medicine development. Before joining EMA, Prof. Thirstrup worked at the pharmaceutical consultancy company NDA Group, first as a medical advisor and from April 2014 as a board director.