To complement last month’s podcast (‘We can work it out!’), we reached out to Amy Rieborn, a PhD student working with Teun Van Gelder and Dirk Jan Moes on various projects involving anticancer drugs. It was really a pleasure to hear about this innovative body of work. Amy started out as a medical doctor and became interested in the TDM of anticancer drugs after wondering why it is so little used in this context compared to the antimicrobials we often see monitored. I’m impressed with the breadth of her work that covers a variety of anticancer drug classes, including hormonal agents, kinase inhibitors and monoclonal antibodies. It was also great to hear about the clinical use of microsampling for home-based monitoring of immunosuppressants. Another great interview from a bright Young Scientist who will no doubt achieve big things.

Amy Rieborn
MD, PhD candidate, Clinical Pharmacology and Oncology
Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Toxicology
Leiden University Medical Center
Leiden, Netherlands

There has been a long-time oversight on my part that we have not heard from our Compass chief editor, Natalia Riva, in our blog series. This month we are correcting that, and we hear from ‘our’ Nata, whose hard work is known to members, and who has recently been undertaking a post-doc with a Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology group in Pamplona, Spain. It is wonderful that this progression builds on her long-term work with Innovative Therapies group at the pediatric hospital JP Garrahan, Buenos Aires, with which she continues to collaborate. Nata has had a wonderful career and I’m sure we will see many more impressive achievements from this bright Young Scientist.

Natalia Riva
Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology
Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Chemistry
School of Pharmacy and Nutrition
University of Navarra
Pamplona, Spain