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ASCPT Member of the Month
The ASCPT Member of the Month—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 hope you enjoy learning about your fellow members and always encourage your participation in Society events and activities. ASCPT is proud to recognize Dr. Sander Vinks, as Member of the Month for September, 2006. Dr. Vinks has been an active member of ASCPT since 2001, and has served in a variety of important leadership roles within the Society. Dr. Vinks is Chair of the Therapeutic Drug and Toxicology Monitoring (THE) Scientific Section, and also serves on the Coordinating Committee on Scientific Sections (CCSS), with responsibility for the THE, MOL (Pharmacogenetics and Molecular Pharmacology) and PHE (Pharmacoepidemiology, Drug Safety and Outcomes Research) sections. Dr. Vinks is Director of the NICHD Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit and Clinical Pharmacology Fellowship program at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine; and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy. His major research interests include pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) modeling, pharmacogenetics and the application of genetics, population and simulation approaches to clinical trial design. He has authored over 70 publications in these areas. Dr. Vinks describes the motivating force behind his research projects as, "Developing more intelligent methods for individualized drug dosing using computer technology that integrate both novel pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic methods as well as modeling and simulations. "Imagine if we could accurately predict drug exposure and response before the first dose even was given. Armed with the right tools, we could predict the likelihood that the drug and the dosing regimen selected would give the best possible response with the least chance of side effects." Dr. Vinks credits ASCPT, its many leaders in clinical pharmacology, and ASCPT's Annual Meetings as an important source of inspiration. "Since moving to the US in 2000, the Annual Meetings have become a wonderful resource for networking and personally meeting with many inspiring clinical pharmacologists from a wide variety of backgrounds that are part of this Society. As chair of THE, I experience current efforts to restructure scientific endeavors within the DDRU framework to better serve the membership as a great opportunity to experience the breadth of the society. It also made me aware how we are perceived by other scientific and medical communities and the importance of good and ongoing communication within our own discipline and beyond. With recent Critical Path and Roadmap initiatives by FDA and NIH these are exciting times for clinical pharmacology! Thank you, Dr. Vinks, for your valuable leadership in ASCPT and the discipline of clinical pharmacology!
Previous Members of the Month:August 2006 - Deanna Kroetz, PhD |
