Personalized Immunosuppression in Transplantation: Role of Biomarker Monitoring and Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Michael Oellerich, MD, HonMD, FACB, FAMM, FFPath (RCPI), FRCPath, is a chemical pathologist. Since 2012, he has had an appointment as a Lower Saxony Distinguished Professor of Clinical Chemistry at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty (UMG) of the George-August University, Göttingen, Germany. He was Chairman of the Department of Clinical Chemistry/Central Laboratory at UMG from 1991 to 2012. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Medical Advisory Board of Chronix Biomedical Inc., San Jose, CA, USA. From 1996 to 1998, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He also served as President of the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring and Clinical Toxicology (IATDMCT), the German Association for Laboratory Medicine, the German United Association for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, and the World Association of Societies of Pathology and Laboratory (WASPaLM). Since 2003, he has been Editor-in-Chief of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring. Previously, he was Associate Editor of Clinical Biochemistry and of Clinical Chemistry. His current research interests are in the field of therapeutic drug monitoring, with particular focus on endogenous biomarkers to achieve personalized immunosuppression in transplantation (e.g. graft-derived circulating cell-free DNA as “liquid biopsy ), as well as pharmacogenetics. Further topics include proteomics, analytical techniques (e.g. LC-MS/MS), and molecular diagnostics. He has authored more than 400 publications, and has received various awards (e.g. Ludolf-Krehl Award, IATDMCT Charles Pippenger Award, WASPaLM Medal of Honor, WASPaLM Gold-Headed Cane).

Amitava Dasgupta received his Ph. D in chemistry from Stanford University and completed his fellowship training in Clinical Chemistry from the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine at Seattle. He is board certified in both Toxicology and Clinical Chemistry by the American Board of Clinical Chemistry. Currently, he is a tenured Full Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center and Director of Clinical Laboratories at the University of Kansas Hospital. Prior to this appointment he was a tenured Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Texas McGovern medical School from February 1998 to April 2022. He has 252 papers to his credit. He is in the editorial board of four journals including Therapeutic Drug Monitoring, Clinica Chimica Acta, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis.