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 six groups/themes:

Perinatal, Obstetric and Pediatric Epidemiology (PI: Professor Anne-Marie Nybo Andersen): Research on health effects of early exposures in a life-course perspective.

Microchimerism epidemiology (PI: Associate Professor Mads Kamper-Jørgensen): Research on foreign cells and their role in women’s and children’s health, based on biological samples.

Complexity and Big Data in Epidemiology (PI: Professor Naja Hulvej Rod): Research on the complex social and biological mechanisms determining health and disease based on high-resolution data.  

Healthy Ageing (PI: Rudi Westendorp): Research on ageing mechanisms and risk factors for functional decline among older people.

Obesity Epidemiology (PI: Thorkild IA Sørensen): Research on theory and epidemiology of obesity, its genetic and environmental causes, metabolic correlates, and psychosocial and health consequences.

Early life Environmental Epidemiology (PI: Associate Professor Marie Pedersen): Research on health effects of environmental exposures during early life.

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

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

Thursdays 3 to 4 pm, followed by drinks and networking

2020

22^nd of October: Challenges in emulating target trials (lunch seminar)
Professor Bianca de Stavola, Institute of Child Health, UCL, London, UK

3^rd of December: Working with Non-Traditional Data Sources
Professor Sune Lehmann Jørgensen, DTU Compute, Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.

2021

18^th of March: Postponed until later this year
The Danish Blood Donor Study – possibilities and challenges for epidemiologic Research
Professor Henrik Ullum, Klinisk Immunologisk Afdeling, Rigshospitalet.

20^th of May: Alcohol research – from an epidemiological and interventional point of view
Professor Janne Tolstrup, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark

These seminars are organized in collaboration between the Graduate Program in Epidemiology and Public Health and the Section of Epidemiology at the Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

Please sign up to the mailing list with updates about location and titles for the upcoming seminars by sending an e-mail to Kathe Jensen (kje@sund.ku.dk).

Click here to see a list of previous seminars.