ISAP mourns the loss of Johan Mouton 

Johan Mouton MD, Ph.D, passed away on July 9, 2019.  Johan was the President of ISAP from 2002 to 2004, one of the founding members of EPASG, and on the steering committee of EUCAST.  Johan received degrees in biology (Msc 1983), medicine (MD 1988) at the University of Utrecht, and completed his PhD in 1993 and training as a consultant medical microbiologist in 1994 at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. Johan’s influence on the field of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics was immeasurable. He spent over four decades studying the optimization of antimicrobial therapy and preventing resistance emergence through application of PK/PD principles.  Johan published a plethora of landmark papers, many of which standardized approaches in our field. An excellent example is his paper on standardization of PK/PD terminology for anti-infectives which has been cited over 400 times.  Johan strongly defended inclusion of PK/PD in the establishment of EUCAST breakpoints. His energy and drive was inspirational. There has been an outpouring of love and support for Johan from Scientists and Friends around the world. He will be dearly missed by our ISAP community.

Francoise Van Bambeke: “I am completely shocked by this very sad news. He strongly defended inclusion of PK/PD in the establishment of EUCAST breakpoints”

Zack Bulman: “This is extremely sad to hear. He was a true leader in our field.”

Juergen Bulitta: “Johan, will always remember you serving as the AAC editor for my first papers. Thank you for being a vivid and leading member of our community.”

Otto Cars: “We have lost a great  leader, inspirator, educator and a very good friend.”

William Couet: “Talentous and hard worker, happy to share his knowledge, but also curious and open to suggestions, Johan was a great leader and very pleasant partner. We'll miss him.”

Hartmut Derendorf: “Johan was so creative and full of energy, a tremendous inspiration and kind person”

Lena Friberg: “This is so sad, we have lost a  strong PKPD enthusiast with vast amount of knowledge. I will truly miss him as a person, and always remember his smile and inspirational energy”.

Jian Li: “Johan was really inspiring and we will miss him a lot. Johan was such a nice colleague in our community and made enormous contribution to PK/PD over decades Johan was not only a great scientist but also a wonderful friend.”

Roger Nation: “The news about Johan's passing is extremely sad. He made enormous contributions in the ID and antimicrobial chemotherapy arena and thereby to medicine more generally. His scientific and clinical acumen will be greatly missed, as will his insightful and inspirational role in so many organisations including EUCAST, EPASG and ISAP. With his research activities and publications, he was both prolific and, importantly, highly influential. As a result, his contributions to improving the use of antimicrobials will continue well into the future. Most important also, he was a wonderful and generous person. He was a great friend and fun to be around. He was a very special human being.”

Elisabet Nielsen: “Johan contributed enormously to the field of PKPD of antimicrobials, and we have lost a great leader, researcher, colleague and friend

Ursula Theuretzbacher: “He was a driving force in PK/PD and never ending supporter of this field. Whenever I had a specific question he always had an answer or at least had thought about it. We will miss his expertise and incredible experience and knowledge… I can't even think about any field where he was not instrumental.”

Paul Tulkens: “Johan was really inspiring and we will miss him a lot.”

Brian Tsuji: “Johan was an amazing leader in PK/PD for many decades who changed our field. He was always so inspiring with so much energy and passion.”

Thomas Walsh: “This is a tragic loss of a dear friend and colleague who contributed so very much to our understanding of antimicrobial agents and who mentored an entire generation of investigators in pharmacology.”

Sebastian Wicha: “Johan’s papers were the first ones I had read when I started my research career in PK/PD and I will also always remember the workshops he taught with so much passion at ECCMID”

Markus Zeitlinger: “At the moment we are too speechless to express how important Johan was to EPASG and the whole field of antimicrobial PK/PD and what a special person he was”

Dear Colleagues, 

It is with great sadness that I share, on behalf of ISAP, the news that Dr. Alan Forrest has passed away yesterday. Alan was a wonderful friend, mentor, colleague and a true inspiration to our community and beyond.  He was a giant in the field of antimicrobial pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and toxicodynamics (PK/PD/TD) as a researcher and educator for over 37 years. Alan started his career at the University of Southern California in Dr. Roger Jelliffe’s Laboratory and held a number of prestigious faculty positions at USC, the University of Maryland and the University at Buffalo. He served most recently as a Clinical Professor and Director of the Center for Pharmacometrics at the University of North Carolina. He also worked as the Senior Director of Pharmacometrics at the Institute for Clinical Pharmacodynamics and was an expert adviser to the Food and Drug Administration and the Pharmaceutical Industry.

Alan made immeasurable contributions to the field of antimicrobial pharmacometrics. He was the leading scientist in the world on adaptive feedback control and individualizing therapy using PK/PD/TD systems analysis. He brought these advanced dosing algorithms all the way to clinical application for many of the antibiotics we use today. His pivotal paper on ciprofloxacin pharmacodynamics revolutionized antimicrobial drug development and has been cited >1,000 times. As a result of his work, exposure response analyses for antimicrobials have become standard practice in translational drug development.

Alan had a tireless work ethic and was extremely driven. Although his days typically started at 7am and he mostly worked 7 days a week, he was always so generous with his time for others. He was a selfless and extremely dedicated mentor and friend to over 100 trainees all over the world. Alan was also a brilliant presenter and explained complex mathematical models with elegance. In 2016, he was honored with the Lewis B. Sheiner Lecture Award at the American Conference on Pharmacometrics. Throughout his esteemed career Alan always maintained his focus in translating his research into clinical practice to improve the care of patients.

He will be dearly missed by all of us.  

Brian Tsuji, President
on behalf of the International Society of Anti-Infective Pharmacology (ISAP)

ISAP activities around ECCMID 2019 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands ECCMID 2019 begins 13 April and concludes on 16 April 2019. Members of ISAP Council will meet during the ECCMID conference. ISAP has a number of activities for all members around ECCMID. ISAP members are welcome and encouraged to attend the following activities. ESCMID Educational Course hosted by EPASG and EUCAST in cooperation with ISAP: Optimised dosing of antibiotics – understanding PK/PD, clinical breakpoints and therapeutic drug monitoring Venue: Van der Valk Hotel Rotterdam-Blijdorp, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Rotterdam is ~25 min from Schiphol airport by train and 40 min from Amsterdam) Date/Time: Thursday April 11 to Friday April 12 2019  Course Coordinators: Thomas Tängdén, Markus Zeitlinger, and Jason Roberts Please see full details regarding the program and register at: https://escmid.m-anage.com/_landing/Escmid/Login.aspx?event=rotterdam2019&app= ISAP Annual Meeting (in collaboration with EPASG) Venue: Van der Valk Hotel Rotterdam-Blijdorp, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (Rotterdam is ~25 min from Schiphol airport by train and 40 min from Amsterdam) Date/Time: Friday April 12 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM Register here or via www.isap.org (Attendance is free to ISAP members.) 4:00 to 5:00 PM Standing on the Shoulder of Giants: A Tribute to Alan Forrest. We invite all ISAP members the opportunity to share research collaborations, memories, and stories about Alan Forrest, a PK/PD Giant of our Time. If you would like to say a few words please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 5:00 to 6:30 PM Young Investigator Oral Presentations. ISAP will host a young investigator session. ISAP would like to dedicate the young investigator session to Alan Forrest. ISAP would like to invite all young investigators to submit their research and have the opportunity to present an oral presentation. Awards will be provided for the best abstract. This meeting, which is being held in conjunction with EPASG, is in keeping with the ISAP tradition of providing a forum for Young Investigators to present their research. Abstract submissions from Young Investigators working in any anti-infective area are welcome! Format abstracts as for ECCMID and email them in a single word document to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the title “ISAP Abstract Submission”. Please indicate the full name of the presenting author if it is not clear from the author block. The deadline for submission of abstracts is March 1 2019. 6:30 to 8:00 PM Networking Reception ISAP General and Council Meeting (OPEN) Date/Time: April 13 4:00 to 6:00 PM Venue: Amsterdam Suite (ECCMID venue) We will host our ISAP council meeting followed by the general meeting in the “Amsterdam Suite” at ECCMID. This is an open meeting and all ISAP members are welcome to join.

ISAP activities around ECCMID 2018 in Madrid

ECCMID 2018 begins 21 April and concludes at 3pm on 24 April. Members of ISAP Council will meet during the ECCMID conference. ISAP has a number of activities for all members during and immediately following ECCMID. ISAP members are welcome and encouraged to attend the following activities.

Attendance at the General Meeting, the Scientific Meeting and the Social Reception is free for all ISAP members.  

Monday 23 April: Young Scientist Night Out in Madrid

An opportunity for young ISAP investigators to get to know each other and enjoy an evening in amazing Madrid. Interested parties are invited to meet around 8pm at the Del Diego Cocktail Bar located at Calle de la Reina, 12, 28009 Madrid, Spain. Please RSVP to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by Sunday April 22nd to provide a tentative headcount for the event and don’t forget to follow @ISAP_org on Twitter for relevant updates from ISAP. 

Tuesday 24 April: General Meeting of ISAP

4:30 – 5:15pm at Hotel Paseo del Arte (Atocha 123, Madrid, Spain)

Please attend this meeting to receive an update on the business and other activities of ISAP, and participate in discussion. Included will be the announcement of the awarding of Honorary Life Membership of ISAP to one of its outstanding members. Hotel Paseo del Arte is about 15 – 30 min by taxi from the ECCMID conference venue.

Tuesday 24 April: Scientific Meeting of ISAP

5:15 – 6:45pm at Hotel Paseo del Arte (Atocha 123, Madrid, Spain; see venue details above)

This meeting, which is being held in conjunction with EPASG, is in keeping with the ISAP tradition of providing a forum for Young Investigators to present their research. Abstract submissions from Young Investigators working in any anti-infective area are welcome. Format abstracts as for ECCMID and email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the title “ISAP Abstract Submission” by March 9th, 2018 (! prolonged to March 23 2018 !) to receive full consideration. Please indicate the full name of the presenting author if it is not clear from the author block. All ISAP members are encouraged to attend to support the Young Investigators.    

Tuesday 24 April: Social Reception

7:00 pm at Hotel Paseo del Arte (Atocha 123, Madrid, Spain; see venue and registration details above)

The reception is sponsored by ISAP in collaboration with the 3rd International Conference on Polymyxins, EPASG and the Spanish Infectious Diseases Society. All ISAP members are invited for light appetizers and refreshments.

Wednesday - Thursday, 25 - 26 April: 3rd International Conference on Polymyxins

This conference is being held at Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Avenida de Córdoba s/n, 28041 Madrid, Spain. The conference is in collaboration with ISAP so we are very keen to invite all of our members to attend. You may register here. Young and senior ISAP investigators are encouraged to submit abstracts for polymyxin-related research as there will be an oral presentation session, in a collaboration of ISAP and EPASG, as part of the conference program. A call for abstracts has been sent out and abstracts are due by January 31st.  We welcome abstracts from all areas related to the polymyxins.