Record number of PhD’s and clinical pharmacologist graduations

‘PhD candidates are central to our mission’, says Dr Jeroen van Smeden, Director of Education. ‘Developing people is one of our strategic goals. Our Clinical Scientists contribute to our scientific work, and the subsequent PhD theses are part and parcel of our societal contribution. This work is performed with the indispensable efforts of the entire CHDR team. That is why we think it is important that each PhD candidate present their thesis in layman’s terms, giving their colleagues and others who have contributed an opportunity to learn from it.’
The nine PhD theses that were given the green light in 2024 show the breadth of research at CHDR, ranging from the central nervous system to the skin and from the immune system to the cardiovascular system. All of these theses focus on the development and application of methods to measure drug effects in early drug development.

Van Smeden: ‘CHDR also attaches great importance to the training of clinical pharmacologists, which is provided in close collaboration with the Leiden University Medical Center and since 2024 also with Haga Hospital in The Hague. Thanks to this collaboration, the perspective of drug development converges with therapeutic applications of drugs. With this, we provide our people with knowledge that will be beneficial in their further career in clinical practice, in science, or elsewhere’. ‘We strongly believe in education as our impactful contribution to society, so we are committed to continuing and further improving it in the future’ says Prof. Koos Burggraaf, Dean of CHDR Academy.