Three new Directors and one re-elected Director have been appointed to the Medicines Australia Board at today’s Annual General Meeting.

Anne Harris (Pfizer) was re-elected for a second 3-year term. Gabi Mittas (Amgen), Dirk Otto (Boehringer Ingelheim) and Urs Voegeli (Janssen-Cilag) were elected to fill positions vacated by Stuart Knight (Roche) who is retiring, Ashraf Al-Ouf (Bayer) who has accepted a promotion and is relocating to Singapore and James McDonnell (Vifor) who stepped down from the Board in June 2023.

MA Chair, Dr Anna Lavelle AM, welcomed the new Directors and congratulated Anne on her re-appointment at the Medicines Australia AGM today, recognising their depth of industry experience and commitment to continuing to drive reforms.

“I am thrilled to welcome our new and re-elected Directors – Anne Harris, Gabi Mittas, Dirk Otto and Urs Voegeli – who each bring unique global perspectives combined with a deep understanding of the policy challenges and political landscape that Australia’s pharmaceutical industry is facing,” Dr Lavelle said.

“As we continue to build on momentum for reforms, there are strong foundations in place to address other pressing policy issues that ultimately affect patient access to medicines and vaccines. The harmonious leadership of our Board and ability to unite the industry on shared goals during this period is critical to our success.”

“The strong position that Medicines Australia is in today is thanks to vision and leadership of our current Board, and I thank you for your dedication and drive, and extend my deepest gratitude to outgoing Directors, Stuart Knight, Ashraf Al-Ouf, and James McDonnell who have made a significant contribution during their service.”

Stuart Knight has been on the Medicines Australia Board since October 2019 and served as Chair of the Performance, Nominations and Remuneration committee and on the Independent Health Technology Assessment Board subcommittee (iHTAC).

Ashraf Al-Ouf has been a Director since February 2022 and was a member of the Performance, Nominations and Remuneration Committee and Finance Risk and Audit Committee.

James McDonnell joined the Board in October 2019 and served as a Chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee.

ENDS

Media enquiries to Kate McKeown, Senior Manager Communications and Media – kate.mckeown@medicinesaustralia.com.au or 0408 775 288.