TGA farewells Dr Geoff Vaughan

Dr Geoff Vaughan recently left the Department, after almost four years as head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

Dr Vaughan came to the TGA after a career in academia. He spent 26 years at the Victorian College of Pharmacy, where he was the Director from 1977-85. He was then appointed Director of the Chisholm Institute of Technology in Melbourne; when it became part of Monash University he was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University from 1990-92.

Dr Vaughan believes the biggest thing to have happened to the TGA in the past four years was implementing 164 recommendations of the Baume Report, a review of the Administration.

"These recommendations were to put in place a system where drug evaluation would be streamlined, where without any loss of quality there would still be timeframes in which the work had to be done," he said. "Certain performance indicators and performance standards were set and it was my job to implement those recommendations and to see that performance standards were reached. This had an impact right across the TGA and also affected the regulation of medical devices and Non-Prescription medicines. We stuck to the timetable required by Baume and the report was implemented much to the satisfaction of the pharmaceutical industry."

Dr Vaughan has returned to Melbourne to live. Even though he is in the Australian Rules capital, perhaps he'll try to watch some rugby union. After all, he was prop forward in the 1957-58 Wallabies. He played three Tests in Britain and France, and three against the All Blacks.

The TGA's new National Manager, Terry Slater (left), bids farewell to his predecessor and former star rugby player, Dr Geoff Vaughan.