Smita Pattnaik, Prof. Clinical Pharmacology, PGIMER elected as Councilor in
International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) and Clinical Toxicology
More laurels were brought home by the PGIMER faculty, as Dr. Smita Pattanaik, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, PGIMER, Chandigarh has been elected as a Councillor in the IATDMCT for a term of two years (2024-25) which was announced at the 21st Congress of the Society at Oslo, Norway on 27 September 2023.
Dr Smita is the first-ever Indian to reach this position in this International Association founded in the 1980s. IATDMCT- is known as the International Association of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) and Clinical Toxicology, is a not-for-profit organization which collates and analyses the scientific information regarding medication use and the measurement of the drug concentration in the body and its relation to the benefit or harm to the patients.It guides clinicians and clinical pharmacologists in monitoring of several drugs and their use in the right dose in various disease conditions like organ transplantations, cancer, infections, psychiatric illness etc.The scientific principle of this system intends to provide maximum benefit to the patients by checking their drug levels and adjusting the dose, that will suit them the best.
She joined the IATDMCT about 12 years back when there was minimal activity from India, and she aimed to make TDM a common patient service and an integral part of clinical services in India. The sensitization has happened, and the movement has led to a total of 115 members from India now. In her message to her Indian members,she voiced that “we have a long way to go, and we will make it happen together”. She aims to make meaningful contributions to expand TDM in India and the South-Asian region as there is a large pool of human capital – young, energetic and talented who aspire and strive to achieve more. She believes in fostering a mentor-mentee culture” that would promotehand-holding of the budding scientists, which will promote more research and implementation of the results in patient care. She concluded by greeting the researchers with the philosophy of the IATDMCT as a society “We may be separated by Geography, but we are United by Science”.
