Kerlijn Van Assche

Kerlijn joined the Medicine Quality Research Group (MQRG) as a research pharmacist in 2020. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate degree and is based in Oxford. Her research aims to increase the understanding of the epidemiology of poor-quality medicines around the world, especially in times of crisis.

Kerlijn was trained as a hospital pharmacist in Belgium and later obtained an MSc in International Health in Germany. Before joining the MQRG, she conducted research at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and worked as a pharmacist in the Global North and South. The guiding thread running through her work is ensuring that patients are treated with quality assured medicines.

There are several ways to fight against poor-quality medicines. The MQRG of the MORU Tropical Health Network and the Infectious Diseases Data Observatory (IDDO) aims at sharing expertise and collating information to increase understanding of the prevalence and distribution of poor-quality medicines. The group encourages discussion of poor-quality medicine epidemiology, detection and prevention, and aims to facilitate improvement in the quality of medicines that patients actually take. The group also advocates for more investment in the regulation of medicine distribution and treatment adherence and interventions to improve medicine quality.

Teams:  IDDO &  Medicine Quality 

Address:

Big Data Institute

University of Oxford 
Li Ka Shing Centre for Health Information and Discovery

Old Road Campus

Oxford OX3 7LF

UK

Kerlijn tells us about her DPhil project, titled ‘Analysis of the epidemiology of diverted, substandard and falsified medical products: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic​’. This talk was recorded during NDM-CGHR meeting on 4th October 2023