Delese Mimi Darko graduated as a pharmacist and has a Master in Business Administration. Her 28 year carrier encompasses the regulation of food and health products, assuring quality and safety. She rose through the ranks of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) to become its first female Chief Executive Officer in 2017.

Under her leadership in medicine safety, Ghana became a member of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring in 2001, ensuring that medicines and medicinal products used in Ghana were safe for patients. In this role, Ghana also became the first country in West Africa and the 5th in Africa to have a National Centre for Pharmacovigilance.

She pioneered the regulation of clinical trials in Ghana and has grown to the point where Ghana is considered a leader in clinical trials in the West African sub-region.

Her hard work and effort with the support of a dedicated team positioned the FDA high among others in the sub region, resulting in Regulators from several African countries including Rwanda, Cape Verde, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Togo, Guinea, Gambia and Uganda paying working visits to benchmark Ghana in medicine regulation including herbal medicines, clinical trials, medicine registration and the pharmacovigilance system.

She was instrumental in the setting up of two expert Technical Advisory Committees for Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Trials, which comprise various renowned Ghanaians professionals with expertise in the varied fields of research, medicine and pharmacy to assist the FDB/FDA in their work. In acknowledgement of the Agency’s global leadership and technical expertise, the WHO organized its annual meeting of Medicine experts in Ghana in early 2010.

The regulation of vaccines, Biotechnology-derived medicinal products, Advanced Therapy Medicinal Product (ATMP) Blood and Blood products was added to her portfolio in 2012/2013 and with a dedicated team of staff has initiated the nationwide regulation of whole blood, blood component, and blood products through the licensing of Blood facilities and listing of blood derived products prepared in the facilities in collaboration with the National Blood Service. This has made Ghana the only country in the Sub-Saharan Africa to have developed and implemented the regulatory framework for blood.

She led a collaboration of the FDA with the UK MHRA in the area of medicine safety; this collaboration is now multidivisional at the FDA with anti-counterfeiting as one of the key areas of support. In 2016 she and her team initiated the establishment of Patient Safety Centers in community pharmacies nationwide to ensure that patients are empowered to report the safety of medicines.

This initiative has helped create awareness of patient safety and improved the detection of counterfeit and substandard medicines in Ghana. In 2019 she led the FDA to launch the Med Safety App, an international mobile tool for drug safety that seeks to improve ADR reporting rates with the aim of improving patient safety in Ghana

As a result of her leadership the agency has attracted tremendous support from international partners like the UKDFID, WHO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI, WAHO and the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) among others

She led FDA’s designation as a Regional Center of Regulatory Excellence in Medicines Safety, Clinical Trials and Drug Registration. During her service she contributed to the growth of research and of the local manufacturing industries in Ghana.

Her expertise has led to the FDA being nominated and recognized by the NEPAD/African Medicines Regulation Harmonization (AMRH) as a Regional Centres of Regulatory Excellence in three very critical areas namely Clinical Trials, Drug Registration and Medicines Safety (pharmacovigilance).

Delese Chairs the WHO African Vaccines Regulatory Forum and serves on several international and local committees such as the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Expert Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC), the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Blueprint on Research and Development Preparedness, the Steering Committee for West African Medicines Regulatory Harmonization project and the Steering Committee for Medical Products Regulatory Systems Strengthening and Harmonization Initiatives in Africa.

She was appointed onto the WHO/ CIOMS Committee on Vaccine Safety to work with leading regulators from the US, UK, Europe, Canada, Japan and other countries to set standards for global vaccine safety.

In recognition of her excellent performance, the final meeting for that committee was hosted by the FDA in Accra in 2016, first time ever in sub Saharan Africa. She has frequently spoken at and chaired various sessions at international and local meetings.

She has received several awards for her exemplary work including the United Nations award for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Disease, the Glitz Africa’s award for Ghana Women of the Year Honors 2019 (Excellence in Health), the Ghana Business Standard Awards for the Female Business Leader of the Year 2019 and the advertising Association of Ghana Special Recognition award for her role in regulating the advertisement of FDA regulated products.

She is a devout Christian and married with two children