Dr. Vedaste HABYALIMANA is the Head of the Drugs Department at the Rwanda FDA since April 2024. He brings with him a wealth of experience, having previously held the position of head of the former Food and Drugs Assessment and Registration Department, as well as serving as the Quality Assurance Analyst at Rwanda FDA.

Dr. Vedaste is highly proficient in the development and coordination of Quality Management Systems (QMS) and has played a key role in the process of certifying Rwanda FDA’s QMS to the ISO 9001:2015 standard. He has also been involved in the WHO benchmarking for maturity level 3 (ML3) for Rwanda FDA, an essential requirement for the regulation of Medicines and Vaccine manufacturing and Vaccine lot release.

With over 15 years of practical experience in Quality Assurance and Quality Control of essential medicines and health commodities, Dr. Vedaste has held significant roles at the Pharmaceutical Laboratory of Rwanda (LABOPHAR) and the Rwanda Biomedical Center / Medical Procurement and Production Division (currently Rwanda Medical Supply Ltd.).

Dr. Vedaste holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, as well as a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. in Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences – with a specialization in Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry.

Dr. Vedaste actively contributes to academia as a part-time Lecturer and Theses Supervisor in the Pharmacy Department at the University of Rwanda / College of Medicine and Health Sciences (UR-CMHS), and at the EAC-Regional Center of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunization and Health Supply Chain Management (UR-HSCM).

Additionally, he focuses his research on the Quality of medicines and other health commodities, Systems compliance with international standards/guidelines and application of best practices (GxP), among other critical areas.