The European Medicines Agency mourns the passing of Jordi Llinares Garcia
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It is with great sadness that EMA announces the death of Jordi Llinares Garcia, the Agency’s Head of Research and Innovation, who passed away unexpectedly in his sleep.
He was 52 and leaves behind his wife and four children. Jordi will be dearly missed by his colleagues within and well beyond the Agency.
“Jordi was passionate and hard-working and a dedicated manager, a role model who inspired and cared for his teams, colleagues and friends,” said Emer Cooke, EMA’s Executive Director. “He will always be remembered for his invaluable contribution to public health and the positive impact he had on everyone at the Agency.”
A physician and clinical pharmacologist by training, patient health was always at the heart of everything Jordi undertook during his almost two decades at EMA. He was exemplary in reaching out to patients and their representative communities with whom he worked closely.
Jordi was, in particular, deeply committed to supporting the rare disease community, running half marathons for charity and serving many years as facilitator and programme lead in conferences and meetings dedicated to orphan medicinal products and a wide range of other related topics.
For many years, Jordi provided scientific and regulatory support to the work of the Agency’s human medicines committee, the CHMP, as EMA’s Scientific Lead. His hard work, his passion and expertise have paved the way for many scientific and therapeutic developments for the years to come.
He was also the driver behind the flagship initiative of PRIME, a scheme to enhance support for the development of priority medicines that target unmet medical needs in Europe and helped defining the Agency's regulatory science strategy.
His legacy will live on through the many colleagues and friends who had the privilege to work with Jordi and who he inspired through his kindness, knowledge, generosity and commitment.