Delese Darko

Dr. Delese Mimi Darko graduated from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with a Doctorate Degree in Pharmacology and a Bachelor of Pharmacy, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the University of Northampton.

-She has over 32 years of expertise in the field of food and medical product regulation, beginning with product testing in the laboratory and progressing to lead the marketing authorization, post approval safety monitoring of medicines, and clinical trials duties. Mimi was key to the FDA being designated as a Regional Centre of Regulatory Excellence in three critical areas by the NEPAD/African Medicines Regulation Harmonization (AMRH) in 2014: Medicines Safety (pharmacovigilance); Clinical Trials Oversight; and Drug Registration. 

Mimi rose through the ranks of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to the post of Deputy Chief Executive Officer before being appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2017, making her the FDA's first staff member to hold this position. The FDA's regulatory system for both food and medical items has improved tremendously during her tenure.

The FDA attained WHO Maturity Level 3 for medicines and vaccines (non-producing) in 2020 and is therefore deemed to operate as a stable, well-functioning, and well-integrated regulatory system.

In 2022, the Drugs Laboratory attained WHO Maturity Level 4 and was designated as a WHO-Prequalified Quality Control Laboratory, making it the first laboratory in West/Central Africa to do so. 

She is leading the FDA to play a key role in making Ghana a vaccine-manufacturing country. 

Mimi  currently chairs the Steering Committee of the WHO African Vaccines Regulatory Forum (AVAREF) and is a member of the CEPI Advisory Board and the COVAX Maternal Immunization Working Group.