PDA was saddened to learn of the passing of longtime volunteer Edwin Rivera-Martinez on Dec. 28. Edwin was a major part of PDA’s family. Many of us remember how he could spin a good yarn and capture an audience with his enthralling presentations. He was heavily involved in supporting efforts to ensure the supply chain around the world, including the Asia-Pacific region.

Edwin made many contributions as a PDA volunteer. From 2012–2017 he was part of the Regulatory Affairs and Quality Advisory Board (RAQAB). As part of this role, he also served as the RAQAB liaison to the PDA Letter Editorial Committee. He also served on the program planning committees for PDA’s supply chain conferences/workshops in 2010, 2011 and 2013 and was a speaker and instructor at a Japan Chapter Annual Meeting. Edwin also spoke at a 2009 PDA meeting in Europe on the supply chain of pharmaceutical ingredients. Additionally, he was an active contributor to the Quality Metrics Task Force. His significant contributions to PDA are part of his legacy that will remain with us.

His extensive industry experience served to benefit PDA and its members. He was proud of his many years of work at the U.S. FDA where he was an investigator. While at FDA, he was the driving force behind ICH Q7, Good Manufacturing Practice Guidance for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients. As part of CDER, he was actively involved in many initiatives, training programs and conferences with PDA, where he contributed to communicating the Agency’s expectations and industry practice on important technical and regulatory matters.

While working at Sanofi over the past six years, Edwin was always fully dedicated to quality, compliance and patient safety and was a strong contributor to the company’s quality culture journey. He was a true gentleman whose kindness was unanimously recognized by many Sanofi colleagues across the world.

Edwin will be sorely missed by PDA. His passion for ensuring safe medicines was infectious and the Association plans to carry on this legacy.