M-CERSI and Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) meet

On March 21, 2023, members of the University of Maryland’s Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI) met with the Korean Minister of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) Dr. Yu-Kyoung Oh and her team in A. James Clark Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park.

M-CERSI, funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), focuses on modernizing and improving how drugs and medical devices are reviewed and evaluated. The center is a collaborative partnership between the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Researchers from both campuses work with the FDA to support the development of new tools, standards, and approaches to assess the safety, efficacy, quality, and performance of FDA-regulated products.

At the meeting, there was a discussion of projects and budgets and additional M-CERSI activities, including master of science programs and the America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent competition. There was also a discussion of research interactions for all FDA members and new arrangements with science centers or programs from M-CERSI for Korean Ministry members and students. M-CERSI could extend a hand in helping the ministry receive training programs and collaboration in funding.

M-CERSI’s Bill Bentley (M-CERSI Co-Director) from the College Park campus, and Sarah Michel (Professor and Chair for the UMB Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean for the Graduate Programs), Paul Shapiro (Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean for Research and Advanced Graduate Studies), Hongbing Wang (Professor & Program Chair, Experimental, and Translational Therapeutics), Keiasia Robinson (M-CERSI Program Coordinator), and Jim Polli (M-CERSI Co-Director), from the Baltimore campus attended the meeting.

“The Korean Minister of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has recently set up a Korea Regulatory Science Center involving six universities in South Korea,” said Jim Polli. “As Maryland is the oldest FDA CERSI, the MFDS asked us about the impact that we have had and how we work with the FDA.”

M-CERSI looks forward to working with the Korea Regulatory Science Center and its universities.

Published April 6, 2023