Daan J.A. Crommelin is professor-emeritus of the Department of Pharmaceutics, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, UIPS, Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

CURRICULUM VITAE

Crommelin studied pharmacy at the State University Groningen from 1966-1975. He graduated with distinction/cum laude (doctoral exam). During his study he was assisting in lab courses on pharmaceutical analysis. He left Groningen and moved to Leiden where he worked on his PhD thesis—a topic in physical pharmacy—at the Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, University of Leiden, from 1975-1979. His thesis was entitled: ‘In vitro release studies on drugs suspended in non-polar media’ and dealt with calculations and experiments on interactions between micron-sized particles in apolar media using the DLVO theory. After receiving his PhD degree in 1979 he moved for a postdoctoral training to the University of Michigan (USA) to work in the group of Prof. Dr. W.I. Higuchi on the dissolution behaviour of hydroxyapatite (enamel).

After returning to the Netherlands in 1980, he was appointed as an assistant professor at the University of Utrecht, Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutics and became acting head of this department in 1983. In September 1984, he was appointed to full Professor in Biopharmacy at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Utrecht and Head of the Department of Pharmaceutics (until 1998). Between 1990 and 1994, he was co-appointed at the Dutch National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection (RIVM). From September 1992 (its conception) until the summer 2003, he was Scientific Director of the Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (UIPS). Since 1994, he is appointed as Adjunct Professor to the Department of Pharmaceutics and Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the University of Utah. From November 1993 until January 1999, he was Deputy Director of the Research School GUIDE, the Groningen Utrecht Institute for Drug Exploration (recognized by the Dutch Royal Society for Sciences, KNAW). In June 2002, he became acting Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Utrecht University. In October 2002, he became Dean of the Faculty and stepped down in January 2006. From 2005 until January 2006, he acted as vice Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Utrecht University. In December 2005, he made a career-shift as he became Scientific Director of the Dutch Top Institute Pharma, Leiden, a Public Private Partnership, funding 600+ postdocs, PhD’s and technicians and a total budget of over EUR 270 million over 6 years. He stepped down from this position per December 2011. He was chairman of the Board of Directors of the Dutch Top Institute Pharma until mid-2013. He chaired, until 2020, the Scientific Advisory Board of Lygature, which is formed after merging the Dutch Top Institute Pharma with the Center for Translational Medicine, CTMM.

Since 1994, he has taken three sabbatical leaves: one at the University of California San Francisco and two at the University of Utah.

He is emeritus professor since December 2013.

Professional experience

Daan Crommelin is an author and/or co-author of over 387 articles (H index: 76; citations: 20,000; from Scopus, accessed Jul 2021), numerous chapters in books and editorials in scientific journals. He has been invited and is invited to speak at many international conferences. He supervised almost 50 PhD students. He filed six patent applications. His research was funded by NWO/STW/NIH, several industrial grants and strategic alliances (e.g., UNYPHAR) and small, start-up companies in and outside the Netherlands. He is/was member of a number of (ad hoc) advisory committees for the Dutch government and universities.

Until August 2006, he was Scientific Director (CSO) of OctoPlus, a contract research organization, CRO, focusing on (novel) (protein)(complex) drug formulations founded in 1995. He was one of the two co-founders. He advised and advises pharmaceutical and biotech companies and is presently on the (scientific) board of a venture capital company and biotech companies. He acts as an expert witness and consultant in the Netherlands, other European countries, US, Canada and the UK. 

Editorial activities

He edited the book Non-Biological Complex Drugs, The Science and the Regulatory Land-scape, AAPS/Springer June 2015 and was Editor in Chief of the book series: ‘Advances in the Pharmaceutical Sciences’ of AAPS/Springer between 2010-November 2018. He edited the book ‘Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Characterization of Pharmaceutical Proteins’, (2005) AAPS Press. Co-editor: W. Jiskoot, he was Theme issue Editor of Drug Discovery Today: Technologies, Elsevier Ltd., 2005. Co-editor: G. Borchard, he acted as European Editor of Pharmaceutical Research (starting March 1998 until Summer 2004). He was mini-review coordinating editor for Pharmaceutical Research (2002-Summer 2004), Special Feature Editor for Pharmaceutical Research (until March 1998), European Editor of the J. Controlled Release (until 1998), Editor of the book: Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. An Introduction for Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists/later, Fundamentals and Applications—with translations a.o. in Chinese and Greek—1997, Harwood Academic Publ., Amsterdam. Co-editor: R. Sindelar, and later Bernd Meibohm. A revised, 2nd edition was published in 2002 and a 3rd edition in 2007 and a fourth edition in 2013, a fifth, revised edition in 2019 and a sixth edition in 2024. He was Editor of ‘Topics in Pharmaceutical Sciences’, Medpharm Scientific Publishers, Stuttgart (1989, 1991, and 1993), Theme editor of Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews (1990), Editor of the book ‘From Clone to Clinic’ (1990) Kluwer Academic Publ. Dordrecht, Editor of the book ‘Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Characterization of Pharmaceutical Proteins’, (1995) Plenum, NY. Co-editors: J.N. Herron, W. Jiskoot, Editor of the book: ‘In vitro and ex vivo test systems to rationalize drug design and delivery’, European Symposium Paris, December 13-14, 1993, APGI-FIP. Co-editor: P. Couvreur, and D. Duchene, Editions de Santé.

He was/is on the editorial (advisory) board or editorial boards/consulting editor of: AAPS J, AAPS PharmSciTech, Adv. Drug Delivery Reviews, American J. of Drug Delivery, European J. Pharm. Sciences, Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, Int. J. Pharmaceutics, J. Pharm. Sci., Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, Pharmaceutical Research, European J. Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics, J. Drug Targeting, J. Liposome Research, J. Controlled Release.

Fields of interest

His fields of interest include biopharmacy, pharmaceutical technology and physical pharmacy in general and more specifically formulation development, including pharmacokinetic considerations, of small and large molecule drug products. Over the years his interest has focused on: site specific drug delivery with colloidal-nanosized carrier systems/self-assembling systems (in combination with monoclonal antibodies), purification, characterization and stabilization of monoclonal antibodies and other pharmaceutical proteins and peptides, receptor-ligand interactions, delivery systems for small molecules, peptides and proteins, pharmaceutical aspects of vaccines (adjuvanticity/antigen presentation and delivery), immunogenicity of pharmaceutical proteins.

Other profession related activities (selection)

•             Secretary of the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Int. Pharmaceutical Association/Fed. Int. Pharmaceutique (FIP), 1989 - 1995

•             Scientific Secretary of the Int. Pharmaceutical Association (FIP), 1989 - 1995

•             Director of the FIP Foundation for Education and Research until 1996

•             Chairman of the audit committee of the Central Lab. of the Netherlands Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (April 1993)

•             Chair of the Wefers Bettink Foundation (until 2012)

•             Member of the Board of Governors of the Controlled Release Society, 1994 - 1996

•             Past-Secretary of the section 'Biopharmacy/Pharmaceutical Technology of the Dutch Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists 

•             Organizer of the Dutch network on ‘Drug Targeting/Advanced Drug Delivery’ from its start until 1994

•             Member of the IUPAC Committee on Nomenclature for Liposomes

•             Member of the Board of Medical Sciences (sector II) of the Dutch Organization for the Advancement of Science (NWO)(past) and STIGON

•             Buitenlands lid van de Farmaceutische Kamer van het Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Vlaanderen (for nine years, until 2004)

•             Jury Organon Award (past)

•             Chair jury APV Award (past)

•             Member/Acting chair/Chair of the Jury of the Saal van Zwanenberg Award (2008 until 2012)

•             EUFEPS Council representative of the individual members (past)

•             Corresponding Member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences

•             USP Nominating Committee of Experts (past)

•             Chair of the Pharmaceutical Education Evaluation Committee in Flanders, 2002

•             Chair of the peer review committee for Faculties of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the ETH Zurich and the University of Basel re Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2003

•             Chair of the review panel of the Drug Research Academy of the Danish Pharmaceutical University, 2004 and 2007

•             Vice chair of the first stage grant committee (STIGON/Biopartner initiative) since 2004-2006

•             As Scientific Director of UIPS/Dean he was and  is involved in strategic planning meetings and activities in the Faculty, the Academic Biomedical Center (ABC)/Federation of Science Faculties (‘beta-federatie), Utrecht University and search committees for chairs/alumni programs, reach out programs.

•             Chair working group on ‘Biosimilars’, 2004/2005

•             Chair of the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Int. Pharmaceutical Association/Fed. Int. Pharmaceutique (FIP), 2004-2008

•             Member of the executive committee of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) since October 2004

•             President-elect of EUFEPS, 2005, President September 2007 – June 2009; past president June 2009 – May 2011

•             Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Faculty of Life Sciences University of Vienna (past)

•             Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Innovation Programme: Assuring Safety without Animal Testing (ASAT), 2008/2009

•             Vice-chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the ‘Innovative Medicines Initiative’, since September 2008 (budget 2 billion €) until 2013

•             Advisor for PSWC2010 in New Orleans, November 2010

•             Member of the non-biological complex drugs (NBCD) working party since its conception 2011

•             Chair of the Board of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the Int. Pharmaceutical Association/Fed. Int. Pharmaceutique (FIP), 2004-2008

•             Member of the executive committee of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) since October 2004

•             President-elect of EUFEPS, 2005, President September 2007 – June 2009; past president June 2009 – May 2011

Teaching

He was a teaching assistant in pharmaceutical analysis during his training as a pharmacist in Groningen (1975-1979). He ran lab courses (undergraduate level) and offered theoretical courses in pharmaceutics/pharmaceutical technology/compounding as a research assistant in Leiden during his PhD training from 1975-1979. From September 1983 on, he was responsible for/involved in the teaching (undergraduate level) activities at the Department of Pharmaceutics of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Utrecht covering the areas of physical pharmacy, (bio)pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical technology and compounding. He organized/participated in graduate courses in biopharmacy, pharmaceutical (bio)technology and advanced drug delivery systems/drug targeting strategies worldwide.

He was on the faculty of courses on liposome technology (Center for Prof. Advancement) and on the faculty of several post-graduate training courses (e.g., APV, CRS, AAPS). He taught a short course on liposomes every two years at the University of Utah. He was co-chair of the successful GUIDE/UIPS course on Advanced Drug delivery in Groningen since its inception in 1995 until 2005. He taught courses on biotech pharmaceuticals in many countries in the framework of the FIP/AAPS outreach program (a.o., Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, India, Argentina, Chile). From 2008 until 2011, he organized courses on Introduction to the Drug Discovery and Development Cycle for Top Institute Pharma PhD students and the Innovative Medicines Initiative (SafeSciMET).

Awards

He won the KNMP Award for Best Student in Pharmacy of the year 1966. He was elected fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) in 1990. He was the winner of the Maurice-Marie Janot award in 1995. He received the International Award of the Belgian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1997. He received the ‘D. van Os penning’ for his contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences in 2002 and the Saal van Zwanenberg Award in October the same year. He received a honorary doctorate from the Royal Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences in November 2002. He gave The Takeru and Aya Higuchi Award Lecture for the APSTJ, May 2008 in Sapporo, Japan. He won The Kenneth E. Avis Distinguished Visiting Professorship in Pharmaceutical Sciences, March 2009. He was elected as Fellow of the Fédération Internationale Pharmaceutique (F.I.P.; September 2010) and received the Host Madsen medal for his scientific achievements from the same organization (F.I.P.) in September 2013. He received the 2010 PSWC Research Achievement Award (AAPS/FIP). He held the Francqui chair at the University of Ghent in spring 2014. He received the Thudichum award in September 2017. And he received an honorary doctorate from Semmelweis University, Budapest, in November 2018.

March 2024, DJAC