Dr Alison CaveRegulator

Biography

Dr Alison Cave joined the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in July 2021 as Chief Safety Officer, with responsibility for the safety of medicines and devices in the UK; she sits on the Executive Committee and is a Board Director of the Agency. She is a pharmacologist with a PhD in biochemistry whose regulatory career began at the Medicines Control Agency and continued in senior roles within the MHRA's Vigilance and Risk Management of Medicines Group and at the European Medicines Agency (EMA). She also served as Head of Cellular, Developmental and Physiological Sciences at the Wellcome Trust, and immediately before joining the MHRA was an Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Director at UK Research and Innovation, where she led two major health data-driven challenges representing over £285m of government investment. Cave has been publicly associated with the MHRA's Yellow Card Biobank—a collaboration with Genomics England aimed at understanding how patients' genetic makeup affects their risk from adverse drug reactions—and has issued public guidance on medicines including valproate, calling on healthcare professionals to implement safety measures to protect patients.

References

1. 1.MHRA announces appointment of Chief Safety Officer – GOV.UK — Appointment as Chief Safety Officer, background as pharmacologist with PhD in biochemistry, prior roles at Medicines Control Agency, MHRA, EMA, Wellcome Trust, and UKRI
2. 2.Dr Alison Cave – GOV.UK — Current role title, organisation, and career background
3. 3.Yellow Card Biobank – MHRA — Yellow Card Biobank initiative: MHRA/Genomics England collaboration on pharmacogenomics and adverse drug reactions
4. 4.MHRA advises men taking valproate and their partners to use effective contraception – GOV.UK — Cave quoted as Chief Safety Officer issuing public safety guidance on valproate
5. 5.The role of genetics in medicine safety – MedRegs (MHRA blog)

Expertise

Cited on

• Learning disability & autism

Stated areas of expertise

• Pharmacovigilance
• Medicines and device safety
• Adverse drug reactions
• Pharmacogenomics
• Medicines regulation
• Patient safety

Notable achievements

• Led the MHRA's establishment of the Yellow Card Biobank, a joint initiative with Genomics England to investigate how patients' genetic makeup affects their risk from adverse drug reactions. Source ↗
• At UK Research and Innovation, led two major health data-driven challenges representing over £285m of government investment before joining the MHRA. Source ↗
• Issued public guidance advising men taking valproate and their partners to use effective contraception following new data on neurodevelopmental risks in children. Source ↗

What they’ve said

• “Untreated pain and fever can pose risks to the unborn baby, so it is important to manage these symptoms with the recommended treatment”

  chief safety officer at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) · Learning disability & autism · 27 Aug 2026 · Wes Streeting rejects Trump claim linking paracetamol and autism ↗

• “untreated pain and fever can pose risks to the unborn baby and it was important to manage these symptoms with recommended treatments”

  chief safety officer at the MHRA · Learning disability & autism · 27 Aug 2026 · ‘Pay no attention’: global health agencies dismiss false Trump claim on everyday painkillers ↗

Source references

1. Wes Streeting rejects Trump claim linking paracetamol and autismtheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026
2. ‘Pay no attention’: global health agencies dismiss false Trump claim on everyday painkillerstheguardian.com · 27 Aug 2026

Contact & links

• Staff pagehttps://www.gov.uk/government/people/alison-cave
• Press office emailnewscentre@mhra.gov.ukpublished here ↗
• Press office phone020 3080 7651published here ↗

Organisational contact points only, each taken from a page the organisation publishes itself. No personal or direct contact details are held or shown.