Cochrane is delighted to announce the appointment of its third external member of the Cochrane Steering Group (CSG): Dr. Michael Makanga, MBChB, MSc, PhD, FRCP Edin.

The CSG has undertaken these appointments within its existing powers to co-opt external members as required, and potentially as the first step in Cochrane’s proposed re-structure of the CSG into the Cochrane Board. The governance re-structure is undergoing consultation with the Cochrane community during 2016, and Cochrane Groups will have the final vote on the proposal at the 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 25 October, during the Cochrane Colloquium in Seoul, South Korea. For more information on this project, please see the Governance re-structure project pages on our Community site.

Michael Makanga is currently the Executive Director of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). He is a Ugandan physician with 25 years of professional experience working on health and poverty-related diseases in sub‐Saharan Africa, which includes over 20 years of work experience on medical product development and clinical regulatory activities. He holds a Medical Degree from Makerere University, Uganda, a Master’s Degree from the University of Liverpool, and a PhD in clinical pharmacology and therapeutics from the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom.

Before joining EDCTP Michael was first in clinical practice and academia, and later clinical research where he served as Head of Regulatory Clinical Trials Facility and Outpatient Clinic at the Kenya Medical Research Institute –Wellcome Trust Collaborative Centre, Kilifi, Kenya, under the auspices of the Universities of Liverpool and Oxford.

He joined EDCTP in 2004, where he has held various management positions, including the appointment as Director of South‐South Cooperation and Head of EDCTP Africa Office in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2008. During his 12 years at EDCTP, Michael has built up significant experience in global health, research for health capacity development, quality assurance, project management and evaluation, health and research management, as well as diplomacy and engagement with policy makers, health and regulatory authorities in sub‐Saharan Africa and Europe. In addition, he has served on various scientific and policy advisory boards for international product development and philanthropic organizations, along with pharmaceutical companies involved in developing medicinal products for poverty related and neglected diseases.

Michael will join the Cochrane Steering Group with immediate effect. His appointment, along with two other recently-appointed CSG members, Marguerite Koster and Catherine Marshall, will also be subject to confirmation by Cochrane members at the 2016 AGM.