Affiliations: Vice Chair of Pediatzics for Pediatrics for
Experimental Therapeutics, Evan and Cindy Jones Chair in Pediatric Clinical
Pharmacology, Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA | George Washington University School of Medicine and
Health Sciences, Washington, DC, USA | Erasmus MC-Sophia Children's Hospital, Rotterdam, The
Netherlands. E-mail: jvandena@cnmc.org
Abstract: In 1970 the World Health Organization stated that the function of
the clinical pharmacologist was: 1) to improve patient care by promoting safer
and more effective use of drugs, 2) to increase knowledge through research, 3)
to pass on knowledge through teaching and 4) to provide services (e.g.,
analyses, drug information, and advice in the design of experiments). The role
of the clinical pharmacologist in the fields of drug discovery, drug
development, and regulatory sciences has significantly changed over the last
decades. There is no discussion about the pivotal role of clinical
pharmacologists in ensuring rational use of drugs, in translating
pharmacological concepts from the bench to the clinic, in clinical drug
development, or in teaching the discipline to medical and pharmacy students.
Specifically, the role of paediatric clinical pharmacology is evolving and
changing dramatically. This paper will summarize the current role of the
(paediatric) clinical pharmacologist.
Keywords: Paediatric protocol, drug research, neonates, infants, paediatric clinical pharmacologist, pharmacokinetics, therapeutic drug monitoring, population pharmacokinetics, pharmacogenetics
