Gerard Loeber
Recipient of the Robert Guthrie Award 2010
Dr.J.Gerard Loeber (1948) studied biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam (MSc, 1971) and completed his PhD thesis on Luteinizing Hormone in 1977 at the Radboud University of Nijmegen. After a post-doctoral project on neuropeptides at the Rudolf Magnus Institute for Pharmacology (University of Utrecht) he moved to the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) in Bilthoven in 1979 where he was involved in various research lines concerning human and animal endocrinology, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical chemistry. The development of standards on quality systems in medical laboratories has been a major side interest.
In 1996 he was appointed at his present position of head of the RIVM Laboratory for Infectious Diseases and Perinatal Screening.
Since 1984 he has played an increasing role in national prevention programmes concerning pregnancy and neonates. Since 1991 he is national coordinator of the laboratory section within the Dutch neonatal screening programme and responsible for the quality of the analytical activities.
Since 1999 he has been International Society for Neonatal Screening (ISNS) executive (Secretary-Treasurer 1999, President 2006, Past President 2009). He (co-)organised 7 neonatal screening meetings in Europe (2001-2011), biannual Benelux meetings since 1997 and he was involved in the MENA meetings (2006-2010). From 2006 he has been a member of the US APHL planning committee for the NBSGTS meetings in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011.
He has visited several developing countries, partly as a WHO-assignment, assisting in getting the NBS system started.
Gerard Loeber is (co-)author of more than 140 publications of which around 20 relate to neonatal screening.