Allan Coukell

Allan Coukell is the senior director of drugs and medical devices, including the prescription project, the drug safety project, the antibiotics and innovation project, the medical device initiative and the FDA modernization initiative, as well as other activities related to medical products and services.

He leads the drug safety project's advocacy around the need for reforms to address the risks of the global pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution supply chain. He has also contributed to the development of federal and state legislation to foster transparency of physician-industry relationships and in the creation of programs to encourage evidence-based prescribing. He has worked closely with medical schools and medical centers developing new industry relations policies, and was co-creator of the American Medical Student Association PharmFree Scorecard, a national assessment of  such policies at U.S. medical schools.

Coukell practiced as a clinical pharmacist in oncology at the Victoria Hospital and London Regional Cancer Center in London, Ontario and was subsequently a senior medical writer and editor with Adis International, publisher of the peer-reviewed journals Drugs, Drugs & Aging, and PharmacoEconomics, among others.

He also spent a decade in journalism, ultimately as health and science reporter for WBUR, Boston’s NPR news station. He was the founding producer and host of the weekly Eureka! science program on Radio New Zealand, and has written for The Economist, the New York Times, New Scientist and Discover, among other publications. He is the recipient of an Edward R Murrow award for hard news reporting.

Allan Coukell serves as the consumer representative on the FDA Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee.