Ron H.N. van Schaik, PhD is a registered European Specialist Laboratory Medicine (2003) and Full Professor Pharmacogenetics (2013). He is working at the department of Clinical Chemistry (AKC) at the Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) in Rotterdam since 1998. He studied chemistry at Utrecht University (specializations Biochemistry, Clinical Chemistry and Molecular Biology) and received his PhD in 1992. He was trained in molecular biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories in New York. From 1992, he worked as post-doc at the Erasmus University (Dept. Endocrinology & Reproduction) and the Academic Hospital Rotterdam (Dept. Pathology, Dept. Clinical Chemistry) on translational research involving molecular biological testing. Currently, he is head of the AKC unit Specialized Research & Development (BO&O) and of the Pharmacogenetics Core Laboratory AKC.
Prof. van Schaik leads a research group on pharmacogenetics, in which the translation to implementation for patient diagnostics is the main topic. Current lines of research include Transplantation/immunosuppression, Oncology, Psychiatry, Pain treatment, anticoagulation and HIV. He has published over 150 articles on pharmacogenetics, and participates in national (NVKC, KNMP) and international (AACC, IFCC, IATDMCT, ESPT, IUPHAR, EMA) advisory committees on this topic. As a second line of research, he is involved in studies on new markers for the detection of prostate cancer.
In 2001, Dr. van Schaik received the Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Award of the Dutch Society for Clinical Chemistry for outstanding research. In 2008, the Pharmacogenetics Core Laboratory AKC got internationally recognized by the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) as a Reference Laboratory for Pharmacogenetics.