John van den Anker is a renowned paediatric consultant based at the Children’s National Medical Center Washington, DC, whose research has resulted in a much more evidence-based use of antibacterial agents such as aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, penicillins, meropenem, and vancomycin in children.
John holds many titles including, the Evan and Cindy Jones Endowed Professor of Paediatric Clinical Pharmacology at Children’s National Medical Center; the Eckenstein-Geigy Distinguished Professor in Paediatric Pharmacology and Pharmacometrics at the University of Basel Children’s Hospital in Switzerland, and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is also Adjunct Faculty Professor at the Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands.
John’s research has focused on the developmental and neonatal clinical pharmacology of frequently used medicines in neonates and young infants with a major emphasis on the use of antibacterial agents in this population. He studied the impact of developmental changes in glomerular filtration rate on how these young and vulnerable neonates were able to handle these agents.
John has published 450 peer-reviewed papers and 70 book chapters and is the Immediate Past President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, as well as the European Society for Developmental, Perinatal and Paediatric Pharmacology.
John obtained his medical degree and PhD in clinical pharmacology from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. He did a residency in paediatrics and a fellowship in neonatal medicine and became the Division Chief of Neonatal Medicine at the Sophia Children’s Hospital in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.