Tamara van Donge

Acknowledgements 275 A Acknowledgements Writing this thesis has been a journey of scientific discovery with new perspectives after every turn along the path towards the summit. I would like to express my gratitude to all who accompanied and supported me on this journey. Over the last three years I have worked with a lot of enthusiasm towards completion of this thesis and I considered the collaboration with all who contributed to the realization of this thesis highly valuable. I would like to mention a few in particular. First and foremost, I am grateful to all the children and their parents for their participation in the clinical studies. The willingness of children and their parents to contribute to the improvement of pharmacotherapy in infants and children is admirable. Their cooperation is a key prerequisite for scientific progress – without it such scientific research could never be carried out. Dear Prof. Dr. van den Anker, lieve John, I would like to thank you for the support and guidance throughout the last years. I consider myself very lucky to have a supervisor like you. Your endless motivation and drive are a true source of inspiration. Your clinical view has ensured that the purpose of the projects included in (but not limited to) this thesis was not lost out of sight. Your door was literally and figuratively always open and you always had time when I walked in with a question. Whenever you were in Basel, I enjoyed your stories from earlier times and could appreciate your Dutch sense of humor. These conversations were less common in the past year, but I hope that we can pick them up again in the near future, perhaps over a good bottle of red wine. Dear Prof. Dr. Pfister, dear Marc, I would like to thank you for your mentorship and supervision over the last couple of years. I am very grateful for the opportunity to conduct the PhD at your department, but more so for the freedom that you gave me to initiate own projects and collaborations. I appreciate your view, ambition and courage in executing on your vision, which is reflected by the founding of your own company. I will remember that options are limitless and thinking is best done in possibilities, not problems. Dear Dr. Frey, dear Nicolas, I would like to thank you initially for evaluating this thesis as External Expert of this PhD Committee, but most importantly I would like to thank you for making this PhD journey possible. I visited you in June 2017 to present my research and discuss the idea for a partnership between the UKBB and Roche. I was over the moon when the opportunity was offered to pursue a combined academic and industry PhD in clinical pharmacometrics. I believe this thesis would not have taken the shape it now has without your personal commitment, and my personal and professional development has benefited