It is with great sadness that we report the sudden passing of Dr Stewart Jessamine on 7 February 2019. Stewart was known to many regulators internationally as the group manager of Medsafe, the New Zealand medicines and medical devices regulatory authority. He was a stalwart supporter for pharmacovigilance in New Zealand and will be greatly missed, both for his engaging and enthusiastic personality, and also his amazing institutional knowledge. This is a great loss to New Zealand.
Stewart had a long and productive career in medicine regulation after joining the New Zealand Ministry of Health in 1993. He led a number of projects and was the spokesperson for the ministry on a range of issues. During his time at Medsafe, Stewart notably worked to establish the Consumer Medicine Information service, deliver access to a quality-assured source of folic acid for pregnant women to reduce the incidence of spina bifida in neonates, and reclassify emergency and oral contraceptives so they could be made available in pharmacies. Through his work, Stewart created the open and transparent environment in which Medsafe operates.
Stewart set the direction for pharmacovigilance in New Zealand from the late 1990s. The New Zealand Pharmacovigilance Centre operates independently under contract to Medsafe. He was instrumental in fashioning the modern contract form and its service deliverables for the centre. He also worked with the centre to establish a reporting system for monitoring recreational psychoactive substances, recognising that the pharmacovigilance infrastructure and its assessment and evaluation expertise was able to contribute to broader public health surveillance.
His outstanding competence and knowledge were of great value in the wider Ministry of Health and the healthcare sector. It was a pleasure to work alongside Stewart for his sharp mind and often profound insights.
Stewart was also well known and respected in his clinical role as a general practitioner in his early days in New Zealand and in his interactions outside of Medsafe. He was jovial and looked to the future with a breadth of perspective that always added another layer to the conversation.
Stewart’s passing is a loss to the New Zealand health sector and certainly to all who knew him well.
Kua hinga te tōtara o Te Waonui a Tāne – moe mai rā e te Rangatira – moe mai rā.
This is a Māori proverb:
Kua hinga te tōtara o Te Waonui a Tāne...
The tōtara in the great forest of Tāne has fallen. A tōtara is a huge tree, native to New Zealand, that grows for hundreds of years. For one of them to fall is a great tragedy. This proverb is used when someone of significance passes away.
...moe mai rā e te Rangatira – moe mai rā.
Rest peacefully, esteemed chief, sleep well.