Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga receives Pioneer Medal from Animal Free Research UK

The UK research body Animal Free Research UK has awarded professor Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga with the Pioneer Medal 2023. The award is given to pioneering scientists conducting medical research without the use of animal testing. Ritskes-Hoitinga: "I dedicate my teaching and research efforts to accelerating the adaptation of animal-free methodologies. This award serves as a motivating force that propels me towards achieving this crucial goal." Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga has been appointed professor of Evidence-Based Transition Animal-Free Innovations at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University from 1 June 2022. In her research and teaching, she mainly focuses on the collaboration between academia, industry, NGOs and regulatory bodies to jointly achieve guidelines and (faster) acceptance of alternatives to animal testing. Before new, non-animal research methods can be used in practice, they must first be accepted by legislative bodies. This often involves years of procedures, while there are opportunities to simplify and speed up these processes.