prof. dr. P. (Petra) Denig

Petra Denig studied Pharmacy at the University of Groningen. After graduating, she worked as  researcher at the Departments of Clinical Pharmacology and Health Sciences (Faculty of Medical Sciences) and as lecturer at the Social Pharmacy and Pharmacoepidemiology Unit (Department of Pharmacy). She has conducted research in the field of rational drug use, particularly focused on the decision making process of doctors when prescribing medication and the factors that can lead to suboptimal drug use.

In 1994 she defended her PhD thesis titled "Drug choice in medical practice - rationales, routines and remedies" at the Medical Faculty in Groningen. After that, Petra has served as coordinator of the international BIOMED I - Drug Education Project and as supervisor of several research projects within the Rational Drug Use group at the University of Groningen. This research is aimed at evaluating and explaining prescribing behaviour in terms of quality of care and at the development of tools to monitor and improve this process. The drug utilisation research is since 2018 embedded in the GUIDE research institute of the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and takes place mainly in the Real world studies in PharmacoEpidemiology, -Genetics, -Economics, & -Therapy (PEGET) program. In 2013 Petra was appointed as program leader of the PEGET (formerly known as M2O) program.

Since 2004, Petra is project leader of the GIANTT project (www.giantt.nl), which focuses on the evaluation of diabetes care in daily practice. Within the GIANTT project both the care delivered and the outcomes achieved are followed longitudinally in more than 20,000 patients with type 2 diabetes.

At the end of 2013, Petra was appointed as Professor of Drug Utilisation Quality at the Faculty of Medical Sciences serving the University Medical Center Groningen (Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology). Major research aims are developing innovative strategies and insights that contribute to optimal use of medicines in practice. The focus is on personalised and patient-oriented treatment for chronic and complex diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.