Carla van Herpen her research focuses on early clinical studies with new drugs and drug combinations in oncology. The early development of new drugs and combinations takes place within phase I and early phase II studies. She initiates studies on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and she is heavily involved in studies with translational research as an important part of early drug development, including imaging studies. Although these studies cover a broad range of tumor types, she has a special interest in developing clinical studies in head and neck cancer and renal cell cancer, with the aim to increase cure and/ or decrease toxicity. Furthermore, another research focus of her is salivary gland cancer.