Associate Professor Mira Harrison-Woolrych has a background in clinical obstetrics & gynaecology, and academic research in women’s health. She has over twenty years of experience in medicines regulation, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoepidemiology and risk communication. Mira trained at Southampton University Medical School and worked in the British NHS, also undertaking molecular biology research into uterine fibroids at Cambridge University for her post-graduate degree.

Mira worked as a Senior Medical Assessor at the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) specialising in women’s medicines including contraceptive products and medicines in pregnancy. Between 2003 and 2013, Mira was Director of the NZ Intensive Medicines Monitoring Programme (IMMP) at Otago University & has an extensive list of pharmacoepidemiology research publications on many different medicines.

In 2015, Mira edited Medicines for Women, the first book to specifically focus on medicines and devices used in women’s health. Mira established and still leads the ISoP Women’s Medicines Special Interest Group (SIG) and was also the founding co-ordinator of the ISoP Western Pacific Chapter. In 2017 she co-edited the second edition of An Introduction to Pharmacovigilance (with Patrick Waller). In addition to medical textbooks, Mira has also written Admissions, a collection of stories about women working in a public hospital (see www.miraharrison.com).

Mira has served on several national and international committees, including the NZ Medicines Assessment Advisory Committee (new medicines); the Southern NZ Health and Disability Ethics Committee and has served two previous (non-consecutive) terms on the ISoP Executive Committee. She co-chaired the Scientific Committee for ISoP 2018 in Geneva and was Secretary General from 2016-2019.