Specialization
Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist
Clinical Pharmacologist (in training)
Focus of research
Precision pharmacotherapy in liver disease patients
Evidence-based reduction of non-beneficial care
Severe infections remain a leading cause of death in patients with advanced chronic liver disease, a challenge I believe is fundamentally rooted in altered pharmacokinetics, reduced drug efficacy, and drug-induced liver injury (DILI). My core research ambition is to optimize drug use in liver disease patients through precision pharmacotherapy: integrating pharmacokinetic modelling, clinically applicable prediction tools and pragmatic clinical trials. Complementary to this, I aim to advance the evidence-based reduction of non-beneficial care in order to lower exposure to potentially harmful drugs, mortality and healthcare costs while improving health-related quality of life.
To support this ambition, I am deliberately pursuing specialty training in clinical pharmacology, next to my current position as hepatologist. This additional training positions me at the interface of pharmacotherapy and liver disease, enabling me to directly translate pharmacokinetic insights into safer, more effective, and individualised patient care.
My scientific trajectory began with doctoral research on antibiotic pharmacokinetics in liver and renal cyst infections, during which I developed a compartmental model that predicts drug concentrations in hepatic cyst fluid. Subsequent work identified novel regimens for recurrent cyst infection and, more recently, expanded to multicenter pharmacokinetic studies in decompensated cirrhosis, including the TACTILE study on ceftriaxone exposure in blood and ascites. I led a Delphi consensus that standardized international management of liver cyst infection, forging collaborations that now underpin my multicenter trials.
This work, together with related projects, has been recognized through multiple competitive grants, including a national society starter grant and an institutional starter grant as principal investigator, totalling more than €1.5 million. These awards have enabled me to build an independent, clinically embedded research line at the intersection of hepatology, clinical pharmacology, and value-based care.
In July 2025, I was awarded a ZonMw grant for the ALBUMINUS study, a national randomized controlled trial that I lead, evaluating the safety and cost-effectiveness of reducing human albumin use during large-volume paracentesis in patients with cirrhosis. In addition, I am Principal Investigator of PRECISE (Predicting Response and Exposure Changes in Cirrhosis for Effectiveness), which aims to identify and predict clinically relevant changes in drug exposure in cirrhosis. These studies exemplify my broader agenda of challenging costly routine practices, advancing evidence-based care, and ensuring that treatment choices are both clinically effective and value-driven.
Leadership and mentorship are integral to my academic identity. I co-supervise several PhD candidates, have mentored more than 25 medical students into scientific careers, and serve as an Associated Editor since 2026 (having previously served as a Trainee Editor) for hepatology of a Q1 peer-reviewed journal (United European Gastroenterology Journal). I co-chair the Dutch Portal Hypertension Working Group, am a founding member of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) Pharmacy Task Force, and hold committee positions within the Nederlandse Vereniging van Maag-Darm-Leverartsen (NVMDL) hepatology and pharmacotherapy committees and the Education Committee of the European Reference Network (ERN) for Rare Liver Disease. These roles support national and international collaboration, dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practice.
In the future, I aim to consolidate pharmacokinetic modelling, pragmatic randomized trials, and value-based pharmacotherapy into a cohesive, independent research programme in precision pharmacotherapy for chronic liver disease.
Specifically, over the next five years, I aim to develop and validate clinically usable prediction models and treatment algorithms that individualise drug selection and dosing according to residual liver function, real-time drug exposure and toxicity risk, including DILI. By combining prospective pharmacokinetic research, multicentre trials and implementation research, this programme will make treatment for people with liver disease safer, more effective, rational and sustainable.