Darren’s well-rounded career path in the HPRA continues to help improve patient health for all
Before joining the HPRA team
Darren has never been shy of academia. He has a degree in Pharmacology and Pharmacy, a Master's in Pharmacy, a PhD in Pharmacology and most recently a Diploma in Regulatory Management. Before joining the HPRA, he worked in academia, the pharmaceutical industry and community pharmacy.
From cosmetics to compliance
Darren joined the HPRA in 2012 as our Cosmetic Products Manager. This was the first step in what has become a diverse career path for him in the HPRA. Working in the cosmetics department, he was responsible for managing and developing our role as the competent authority for cosmetics in Ireland.
The following year Darren became an inspector in the Health Products Distribution (HPD) section of our Compliance department. Day to day tasks included evaluating compliance of sites inspected, to providing pharmacological and toxicological support for analysing medicinal and cosmetic products. It was a great chance to further expand his experience.
Moving into management as an Inspections Coordinator
Darren was promoted to HPD Inspections Coordinator in 2014. Here he managed a team of inspectors and scientific officers. They looked after for a wide range of areas including:
- medicines distribution
- precursor chemicals
- controlled drugs
- active substance distributors.
Less than two years later, Darren found himself in a senior management position within the Compliance department. He was responsible for the Health Products Distribution section, an area he would further develop.
Ambition to improve how we manage medicines shortages
Recognising medicines shortages as a challenge, Darren was keen to develop initiatives that would reduce the chance of a medicine shortage in Ireland. In 2017, he got involved in a project to support our role in the management of medicine shortages.
Leading a new division within the organisation
Darren’s work on shortages helped pave the way for a new Medicine Shortages & Borderline Classification section to be established in 2022. He was promoted to Manager of this section with responsibility for leading national and international medicine shortages initiatives and integrating the Medicine Shortages Framework into national systems for medicines management.
Now a key player in how we communicate and engage with others
Darren transferred over to the newly established Pharmacovigilance Risk Communication and Assessment section within the Human Products Monitoring department in 2024. He is now responsible for leading our communication and engagement strategy with health care professionals, the health system, academia, patient/public organisations, and industry.
The aim is to promote our role in safety monitoring and risk management of medicines.
“The experiences to date in my career, from a broad range of different positions, have been essential to being able to develop as round a perspective as possible, particularly when it comes to problem solving and engaging with patients, governmental agencies, healthcare professionals and other national and international industry stakeholders. I am lucky to be working in an organisation where I have the potential to have a positive impact on patient's health.”