On June 2, 2020 Anneke Dijkmans successfully defended her PhD thesis ‘Rational Use of Antibiotics’ at Leiden University.
Although the value of hygiene measures cannot be underestimated, antibiotics have revolutionized human healthcare in a way that only a few other scientific discoveries have. Antibiotics have not only enabled us to overcome ‘the captain of the men of death’ by saving lives of patients with serious infections, these drugs have also played a pivotal role in major advances in medicine and surgery. However, we currently face an era of serious threats to human and animal health due to the world-wide emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria and only little has been done to prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The scope of Anneke’s thesis was to investigate antibiotic treatment optimisation measures that can be applied to combat the increasing antibiotic resistance. She addresses two cornerstones in her thesis: refining stewardship of existing antimicrobials and re-introducing old antibiotics within the framework of antimicrobial stewardship. With this thesis, Anneke hopes to stimulate rational and effective use of antimicrobials.
Anneke’s PhD program came about within a collaboration between CHDR and the departments of Medical Microbiology, Infectious diseases and Pharmacology/Pharmacy of several medical centres, including LUMC, EMC, UMCG and Haga Hospital. CHDR supported the publication of Anneke’s thesis and she was supervised by promotor prof. dr. Koos Burggraaf and co-promotor dr. Ingrid de Visser-Kamerling.
Click here to read Anneke’s thesis.
