Dr R.A.A. Mathôt (1963) has been appointed Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Amsterdam’s (UvA) Faculty of Medicine (AMC-UvA).

Ron Mathôt’s research focuses on the optimisation and individualisation of medication dosage within fields such as oncology, transplantation medicine and paediatric medicine. His work centres on highly potent drugs with a small therapeutic window, i.e. a small difference between effective and toxic blood concentrations. For these drugs, dosing strategies are developed to obtain blood concentrations in the therapeutic range, thereby preventing toxicity.

Within the AMC hospital pharmacy, Mathôt measures medicine concentration levels in patient material using liquid chromotography-mass spectrometry. The relationship between drug dosage, concentration and desired and undesired effects are described by integrated pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) models. The use of the nonlinear mixed effects modelling (NONMEM) allows for the integration of PK-PD data from multiple sources. In these population analyses, Mathôt characterises inter-patient variability in PK-PD parameters and strives to identify any specific demographic, genetic and/or pathologic factors that could explain variations between the patients. The factors identified in this process are then used to individualise and optimise the dosing schedule of the medication.

Hospital pharmacist/clinical pharmacologist Mathôt has worked as deputy head and trainer at the AMC hospital pharmacy since 2010. He previously worked at the ErasmusMC in Rotterdam and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam. Mathôt serves on various committees, including the AMC Medical Ethics Review Committee (METC) and the accreditation commission of the Netherlands Association of Hospital Pharmacists (NVZA). He has published extensively in professional journals such as Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Clinical Cancer Research, Critical Care Medicine and Intensive Care Medicine.