Member of the Month

The ASCPT Member of the Month is a forum to recognize and thank a member of ASCPT who has supported the Society's endeavors. Each month, ASCPT highlights one member who has gone above and beyond the call of duty! We also highlight the Member of the Month, along with two other members, in each issue of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. We hope you will enjoy learning about fellow members and as always, encourage your participation in Society events and activities.
 
Geert W. ‘t Jong, MD, PhD: May Member of the Month 

ASCPT is proud to recognize Geert W. ‘t Jong, MD, PhD, as the May Member of  the Month.    Geert W. ‘t Jong, MD, PhD, Pediatrician, Clinical Pharmacologist, Division of Ambulatory Care, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Winnipeg Children’s Hospital, Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, Canada             As a PhD student under the tutelage of John van den Anker, MD, PhD, Dr. ‘t Jong presented his work on off-label drug use in children, the focus of his PhD, at the 2000 ASCPT Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. This was an exciting experience for him that provided an opportunity to hear from people at the frontier of clinical pharmacology and to meet many experts in pediatric pharmacology. It was also in 2000 that Dr. ‘t Jong joined ASCPT, and as a member of the Pediatrics Scientific Section, which eventually merged into the Special Populations section, he was able to engage with many people in the field of pediatric clinical pharmacology who shared his interests. Dr. ‘t Jong says, “ASCPT has been very beneficial in many ways. Being a member has allowed me to connect with people for collaboration, reflection, and mentoring, and has exposed me to many learning opportunities by attendance at keynotes, symposia, and workshops, but also in organizing them. As a student, I have always appreciated the enormous effort the Education Committee put into organizing many opportunities for students to connect, learn, and prepare for further steps in their careers, and I am very proud to be able to be part of that committee now.” ASCPT has allowed him to connect to people who eventually became his supervisors, mentors, collaborators, and friends; those connections, he feels, have been of immense value. Additionally, he notes that ASCPT provides leadership opportunities to young people that are not easily available elsewhere and that can be very instrumental in their careers. ASCPT, Dr. ‘t Jong says, has for more than a century provided opportunities to many generations of scientists to meet and learn, and this has had tremendous influence on the field. He explains, “The promotion of clinical pharmacology and therapeutics, and translation of basic science to patient benefit, has been very important for patient care and physician and pharmacist training. Development of fields like pharmacometrics and pharmacogenomics, translational research, and regulatory sciences over the last decades has greatly benefited from the advocacy of and leadership within ASCPT, and the dedication of CPT.” He advises students and young scientists to take every opportunity to get involved, noting that they can make a difference and contribute to the Society through interaction within the sections of their choice and proposing subjects and writing proposals for symposia, Science at Sunrise sessions, and workshops for the Annual Meetings, through collaborations with others and just by talking to committee members and Board members about what they think would be beneficial to the Society. Dr. ‘t Jong also notes the value of the ASCPT Mentoring Program, saying, “One of the most valuable aspects of membership is the possibility of enrollment in the Mentoring Program, which provides young members with excellent mentors. I was lucky enough to find one in Dr. Gregory Kearns, PharmD, PhD, who has helped my career and provided me with excellent knowledge and wisdom in periods of need.” The Annual Meetings are always a highlight of the academic year for Dr. ‘t Jong. The combination of science and networking makes the meetings very attractive to him. He points out that the meetings are particularly interesting because of the Society’s internationally diverse membership—in fact, his favorite aspect of membership is that international members are made to feel as much a part of the Society as US members. He looks forward to many more meetings to come. Dr. ‘t Jong is a member of the Social Media Task Force as well as the Educational Committee, which was instrumental in developing the 2012 Career Bootcamp, which will return in 2014. Additionally, he received the ASCPT Presidential Trainee Award for his top-scoring abstract presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting. Thank you, Dr. ‘t Jong , for your valuable leadership and continued commitment to ASCPT and the discipline of clinical pharmacology!

Previous Members of the Month
January 2013: Kenneth Luu, PhD
February 2013: Karthik Venkatakrishnan, PhD
March 2013: Kevin Dykstra, PhD
April 2013: Larisa Reyderman, PhD