Matthew Hutmacher, MS (1969–2017)

For anyone who met Matt Hutmacher, you could not help but be impressed by his brilliance and the genuine humility with which he shared it. His passing on May 3, 2017, much too soon at the age of 47, has been devastating to his loving family as well as the pharmacometrics community.

Matthew Mehler Hutmacher began his career as a statistician, earning his bachelor's degree in graduate preparatory mathematics with departmental high distinction in 1991 at the University of Illinois and his master of science degree in mathematical statistics from Northwestern University in 1994. As an intern with G.D. Searle, Matt took an interest in pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) modeling and quickly became an expert in the years that followed as a consulting statistician. His subsequent work with Amgen and then Pfizer was highlighted by developing complex modeling strategies and clinical trial simulations that led to the registration of several new drugs. Matt was unique in his ability to apply statistical principles to find novel ways to solve population modeling challenges, making key contributions to methods that have become the industry standard.

For many years, Matt has been an active member of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT), the International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISOP), and the NONMEM Users Group. He was also a founding member of ISOP. His scientific contribution to these organizations is immeasurable. He authored over 40 publications and several book chapters covering a wide range of topics including ordered categorical PD analysis using latent variables, analyses that involve bounded outcome data, repeated time‐to‐event analysis for incidence and severity, and data analysis under noncompliance, among others. In 2008, Matt was presented with the McKeen Cattell Memorial Award for an article published in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. His technical expertise was recognized as a member of the editorial board for CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology (PSP), and he received the PSP Award at the ASCPT 2017 Annual Meeting for his outstanding service to the journal. He was also a member of the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics.

Most recently, Matt was a partner of the Ann Arbor Pharmacometrics Group, a consulting company providing pharmacometric services to the pharmaceutical industry. He cofounded this organization with us in 2007, and we were looking forward to celebrating the 10^th anniversary of our collaboration with him this year. Matt was a highly talented pharmacometrician, innovative and dedicated, with supreme integrity and generosity in sharing his knowledge. He was unassuming in his nature while contributing enormously to the science of quantitative drug development. He will be dearly missed.

Born November 3, 1969, in Quincy, IL, and most recently residing in Ann Arbor, MI, Matt touched the lives of so many colleagues around the world, and even more numerous patients who never knew him.