Toine Pieters appointed NIAS Golestan fellow
As of September 1, Toine Pieters will start as . During this period he will work on his academic book on imaginaries of wonder drugs in medicine. In this book, Pieters investigates how ideas about magic bullet medicines – perfect drugs to cure a disease without danger or side effects – have influenced the research and development of medicines during the twentieth century. He focuses on cancer, infectious diseases and mental disorders.
Pieters argues that magic bullet visions of scientific and technological progress in Western medicine are not innocent, but can also have unintended consequences for the direction in which research develops. In earlier research, he has already shown that the way in which magic bullets are imagined can have an effect on drug research, development and use.
Pieters sees the NIAS Golestan fellowship as a valuable recognition of his research work. “It is also an extra motivation to finish my book project," he says.
While taking up the fellowship, Toine Pieters is stepping down as chairman of the Freudenthal Institute. He fulfilled this role for 10 years. He will remain affiliated with the institute and will return to his position as professor within the institute and Utrecht University after the fellowship. We look back on Toine's time as chairman with great appreciation and thank him highly for all his work as chairman.