Inaugural joint Chair of Clinical Pharmacy at Westmead appointed
Sydney Pharmacy School and Westmead Hospital welcomes Professor Jan-Willem Alffenaar to the position of joint Chair of Clinical Pharmacy at Westmead.
Professor Jan-Willem Alffenaar (L) with Professor Andrew McLachlan AM, Head of School and Dean, Sydney Pharmacy School
The University of Sydney School of Pharmacy and Westmead Hospital are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Jan-Willem Alffenaar to the position of joint Chair of Clinical Pharmacy.
“I am delighted to welcome Professor Alffenaar to Sydney Pharmacy School as our inaugural joint Chair of Clinical Pharmacy at Westmead”, says Head of School and Dean of Sydney Pharmacy School, Professor Andrew McLachlan AM. “This appointment is an exciting development and a great opportunity for Sydney Pharmacy School and Westmead Hospital to further develop collaborations in teaching and research. The position carries academic responsibilities in the learning and teaching, research and service portfolios at the University of Sydney. In addition, this position contributes to the hospital community in terms of quality patient care, inter-professional teaching, leadership in clinical research and health care service more generally.”
Westmead Hospital in western Sydney is a 975 bed major tertiary hospital servicing the largest growing population in Australia, and is a teaching hospital of the University of Sydney. The Westmead precinct incorporates four major hospitals, three world-leading medical research institutes, two university campuses and the largest research intensive pathology service in NSW. As part of one of the biggest health infrastructure projects in NSW, the Westmead precinct is currently undergoing a major redevelopment that will deliver a state-of-the-art health, education and research precinct including more than 300 additional patient rooms and expanded services.
“The appointment of Professor Jan-Willem Alffenaar as the inaugural joint Chair of Clinical Pharmacy at Westmead is a significant testimony to the enduring relationship between the University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital for over 40 years, and the ongoing opportunities for innovation in research, education and collaboration between academia, clinicians and researchers to influence the future of clinical practice and patient care” according to David Ng, Director of Pharmacy at Westmead Hospital.
Professor Alffenaar is a clinical pharmacologist and a leader in the field, with a specialty in antimicrobials. He studied pharmacy at the University of Groningen and started his career as a pharmacist at the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands where, at the same hospital he served as a hospital pharmacist in residence.
During his routine TDM training he developed great interest into infectious diseases and has been a Principle Investigator of many clinical studies evaluating clinical pharmacology of antimicrobial drugs ever since. Dried blood spot analysis got his specific attention as it enables TDM in resource limited settings. He was appointed to Medical Faculty at the University of Groningen with the scope of optimising antimicrobial therapy based on PK/PD principles. He has (co)authored over 200 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and supervised over 16 higher degree by research candidates.
Most recently he has secured a grant through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to investigate Saliva and Dried Blood Spot Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis.
We welcome Jan-Willem and look forward to his continued success.
