Section of Epidemiology

The section ultimately aims at improving public health by contributing to development of the knowledge base about the determinants of health and disease, the modifiability of these determinants, and the potential utility of transferring this knowledge to public health actions. 

We aim to exploit and enrich the existing population data and we benefit from the unique ability to link registers in Denmark. Our research is interdisciplinary and we strive to incorporate the knowledge and insights from other disciplines into our research. We also aim to explore the possibilities of innovative technologies to collect and incorporate ‘big data’ into epidemiological thinking.

Our research is organized in the following groups/themes:

Perinatal, Obstetric and Pediatric Epidemiology (PI: Katrine Strandberg-Larsen: Research on health effects of early exposures in a life-course perspective.

Computational and mathematical global health (PI: Samir Bhatt): A world leading group that focuses on a diverse range of topics. The group research at interface between computer science, mathematics, biology and epidemiology.

BIO-EPI (PI: Majken K. Jensen): The BIO-EPI research group is focused on bridging wet- and dry- lab data for the improved understanding of the underlying biology in non-communicable diseases.

Nutrition, -Omics, and Cardiometabolic Diseases Group (PI: Marta Guasch Ferre): The group focuses on investigating the role of dietary and lifestyle factors in cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. Our goal is to incorporate high-throughput –omics techniques into traditional epidemiological analysis to gain insights into underlying mechanisms.

Section of Epidemiology coordinates teaching and training in epidemiology at various levels. Our aim is to empower the students with the critical thinking and methodological skills they need to address future public health challenges and improve clinical practice. Education is a lifelong process and we offer qualified training at all levels from undergraduate and graduate teaching to post graduate training of researchers and clinicians.

The faculty in the Section of Epidemiology engages in mentoring of students and early career researchers and we offer supervision of research projects at all levels from educational projects (e.g. Bachelor or Master theses) to PhD theses.

Section of Epidemiology contributes with specific courses to the following educational programs at the Faculty of Health Sciences:

• Medicine
• Bachelor and master of Public Health Science
• Bachelor in Health Informatics
• PhD in Medicine

On this page, you will find an overview of project proposals and internship opportunities that the Department of Public Health offers to bachelor's, master’s, and research year students.

DanCHASE
Danish Conscription Database
Danish Life Course Cohort Study (DANLIFE)
Danish National Birth Cohort (DNBC)
Metropolit cohort (in Danish only)
Well-being in Hospital Employee cohort (WHALE)

Epidemiological seminar series 2024 and 2025

Join us for a series of epidemiological seminars, organized by the Section of Epidemiology and the Graduate Program in Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Copenhagen. The seminars will take place on Thursdays and participation is free and open to everyone.

14^th of November from 1 to 2 pm: The Rise, Fall and possible Re-Birth of Mendelian Randomization
George Davey Smith - Director of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Bristol Medical School. A seminar followed by cake, coffee and networking.

Friday 15^th of November from 2 to 3 pm: Triangulation – Methods to Improve Observational Epidemiology.
George Davey Smith - Director of the MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit and Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at Bristol Medical School. A seminar followed by drinks, chips and networking 

20^th of February: Title pending
Lone Simonsen - Professor of Population Health Sciences, at the Department of Science and Environment at Roskilde University

20^th of March: Forecasting the Future: Introduction to Clinical Prefiction Modelling, their Applications and Methodological Challenges.
Glen Martin - Senior Lecturer in Health Data Science at the Health e-Research Center at the University of Manchester.

24^th of April: Title pending
Becky Mars – Associate Professor in Epidemiology at University of Bristol

23^rd of May: Title pending
Janet Rich-Edwards - Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

19^th of June: Title pending
Catherine Lesko – Associate Professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Click here to see a list of previous seminars.