CV

ACADEMIC POSITIONS    

2022 –      Associate Professor Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, Univesity of Copenagen

2021         Senior Researcher Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Health Promotion Research, Copenhagen

2019-21    Assistant Professor Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.

2017-19    Visiting Assistant Professor Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA.

2017-        Associate Researcher at Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2015-17    Postdoctoral Fellow Global Health Section, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

2014         Visiting Doctoral fellow Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, USA.

2011-14    PhD Fellow International Health Unit, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

2009-11    Research Assistant International Health Unit, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

2009         Research Assistant Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

ELECTED AND APPOINTED POSITIONS

2015-17    Chair for Workshop Planning Committee, International Diabetes Epidemiology Group (IDEG).

2015-17    Conference Planning Committee Member, International Diabetes Epidemiology Group (IDEG).

HONORS AND AWARDS

2017-19  International Mobility Fellowship Award, Independent Research Fund Denmark

2015-17  Postdoctoral Fellowship Award, Danish Council for Independent Research

EDUCATION

• PhD Global Health, 2015, University of Copenhagen, Denmark: Dissertation: Living with type 2 diabetes in rural Uganda – Exploring the household as an intersection for diabetes management, risk and behaviors.

• Human Physiology, 2007, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

• Exercise Physiology, 2003, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. and Department of Sport Sciences, University of Aarhus, Denmark.

• Minors:
  • MPH Courses, 2010, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.

  • Geography and Geoinformatics, 2005, Department of Geography and Geology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

TEACHING

Course leader

2021       Social Networks and Health, Emory Universty, USA (College/Bach.)

2020-21 Survery Method Development, Emory University, USA (MPH)

2017       Transition in Urban Living: From Global to local using the Municipality of Copenhagen as a Case. Summer School, University of Copenhagen (MSc.)

Pedagogic Training

2021       Social Justice Pedagogies. Emory University, GA, USA.

2007-08 Post-graduate course in educational theory and practice (Gymnasium pædagogikum). Ordup Gymnasium, Denmark.

Supervision of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows

Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacology: 2 postdocs  

Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen: 6 Master Students

School of Public Health, Emory University, USA: 1 Master Student

Supervision  of field research teams

2010       The association between glucose intolerance and low birth weight caused by maternal malaria infection in Muheza, Tanzania. Research project with Teule District Hospital, Muheza, Tanzania, and University of Copenhagen, Denmark

2011-13  Living with type 2 diabetes in rural Uganda. 15 months field data collection in South-western Uganda.

2018-21 Living Together with Chronic Disease: Informal Support for Diabetes Management in Vietnam. collaboration between Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacology and University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Guest Lecturer

Doctoral

• Ethics of health research involving humans in resource-poor settings. Graduate School in Global Health, University of Copenhagen.

Graduate

• Health and Diseases in Low- and Middle-income countries. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Ethnicity and metabolic chronic disease in a global perspective. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• International Health. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.
• Advanced Research Methods and Ethics. Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Quantitative Data Analyses (GH 523), Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, GA, USA.
• Diabetes: A Model for Global Non-communicable Disease Prevention and Control (GH 534), Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, GA, USA.
• Community Health Assessment, Department of Global Health, Emory University, GA, USA

Undergraduate

• 1st year project (1.årsprojekt) in Social Epidemiology and Population Diseases: Prevention, Health Promotion and Sociology, School of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Other Teaching Positions

2008       External Lecturer in ’Sport Nutrition’ at SUHR’s Copenhagen (Bach. level), Denmark.

2007-08  High School Teacher at Ordrup Gymnasium, Denmark.

2006       High School Teacher at Nærum Gymnasium, Denmark.

EXTERNAL FUNDING

Current

Disparities in the burden and progression of multi-morbidity across adulthood (R01). 
Agency: NIH, National Institute Aging. 
Role: Co-Investigator
Period: 2022-2025

Rapid Optimization of COVID-19 Testing for People Affected by Diabetes. (P30DK111024-05S1)
Agency: NIH, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. 
Role: Co-Investigator.
Period: 2020-2022

Living Together with Chronic Disease: Informal Support for Diabetes Management in Vietnam
Agency: DANIDA
Role: Co-Investigator 
Period: 2018-2022

Completed

Dynamics and Health Consequences of Obesity between Infancy and Young Adulthood in the U.S. (R01). 
Agency: NIH, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Role: Co-Investigator.
Period: 2018-2021

The Interplay of Family and Psychosocial Factors in Type 2 Diabetes Prevention and Management.
Agency: Independent Research Fund Denmark. 
Role: Principle Investigator
Period: 2017-2019

Family matters: A new approach to identify individuals at risk of type 2 diabetes. 
Agency: Danish Research Council for Independent Research (Postdoctoral Research Award)
Role: Principle Investigator
Period: 2015-2017

Living with type 2 diabetes in rural Uganda.
Agency: Aase & Ejnar Danielsens Fond
Role: Principle Investigator
Period: 2011-2014

Living with type 2 diabetes in rural Uganda – HbA1c Measurements
Agency: Thorvald Madsen fond.
Role: Principle Investigator
Period: 2012

Narratives from people living with type 2 diabetes in rural Uganda
Agency: Graduate School of Health Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Role: Principle Investigator
Period: 2013

Trainee and Travel Grants

2019       Training and Travel Grant, Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Training workshop, University of Michigan, USA.

2015       Training and Travel Grant, Danish Diabetes Academy Winter School, Malaga, Spain.

2013       Travel Grant (for World Diabetes Congress), Oticon Fonden, Denmark

2011       Training and Travel Grant, International Diabetes Epidemiology Group Training Session and Conference 2011, Sharjah, UAE.

2011       Training and Travel Grant, ‘11^th WHO/IDF/EASD Cambridge Seminar on the Epidemiology and Public Health Aspects of Diabetes Mellitus, Cambridge University, United Kingdom.

2011       Travel Grant, Christian & Ottilia Brorsons rejselegat, for field work in Uganda.

Short presentation

My primary research interest is centered on the complexity of chronic conditions, related risk factors, and social networks. I focus on how chronic conditions and related risk factors are shaped, shared, spread and interact in social network such as families, and how social networks influence disease management and access to treatment and care. Further, I have a strong interest in social inequality in chronic conditions.

The primary goal of my research is to provide novel insights on the role of social networks and social inequality in risk of chronic conditions and access to care. Risk factors for major chronic diseases are by now well-known; the challenge for public health is to prevent these.

I have investigated chronic conditions (particularly obesity and type 2 diabetes) qualitatively and quantitatively; in families, couples, and parents and their children; collected primary data in Uganda and Vietnam, and worked with secondary data from Denmark, United Kingdom, India, and the United States.

I have a background in Human Physiology and a PhD in Global Health from University of Copenhagen. I have minors in Geography from University of Copenhagen and Public Health from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. In 2015, I was awarded with a 2-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Danish Council for Independent Research with allowed me to spend 1 year at Emory University Rollins School of Publisc Health, USA. In 2017, I was awarded with an international mobility fellowship from Independent Research Fund Denmark to spent additional two years at Emory University, USA as a visiting Assisting Professor.

I am Co-Investigator on NIH and DANIDA grants. Internationally, I have assessed grant applications from Medical Research Council UK.

Current research

Disparities in the burden and progression of multi-morbidity across adulthood

Approximately one fourth of the adults in the U.S. suffer from multi-morbidity, experiencing two or more chronic cardio-metabolic diseases. For interventions to interrupt the progression to having multiple chronic conditions and disparities in multi-morbidity, it is necessary to understand how these unfold across adulthood. In this study, we will provide national estimates of the burden of multi-morbidity across adulthood, of the progression from one chronic disease to multi-morbidity, and of how trajectories of multi-morbidity contribute to health disparities.

Funding: NIH, National Institute of Aging

Period: 2022-2025

Dynamics and Health Consequences of Obesity between Infancy and Young Adulthood in the United States

Given the public health importance of obesity, understanding the implications of its patterning, including age of onset, duration of exposure and patterns of reversal is critical to identifying vulnerable age periods, groups at highest risks, and lifetime health consequences. Combining multiple nationally representative panel datasets, we propose to estimate the age-specific incidence of obesity during childhood and adulthood among contemporary cohorts of Americans, estimate their duration and level of exposure to unhealthy BMI, and estimate the links between these dynamics and the emergence of subsequent health complications. These analyses will quantify the long-term health implications of exposure to high BMI early in life and will provide estimates for the effectiveness and broader benefits of policies and programs aimed at reducing and preventing obesity.

Funding: NIH, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Period: 2018-2023

Living Together with Chronic Disease: Informal Support for Diabetes Management in Vietnam 

The project aims to advance research on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by providing new insights on domestic and informal forms of care. The project is conducted in Vietnam’s Thai Binh province as an academic partnership between Thai Binh University of Medicine and Pharmacy and the Universities of Copenhagen and Southern Denmark. It is carried out in close collaboration with the Danish-Vietnamese Strategic Sector Cooperation (SSC) project: Strengthening the Frontline Grassroots Health Worker: Prevention and Management of NCDs at the Primary Health Care Level, with Novo Nordisk as private sector partner. We have recently received a grant for a Phase II of the project which will focus on gestational diabetes among pregnant women in Thai Binh.

Funding: Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Period: 2018-2023

Teaching

Course leaderships

2^nd year project (BA in Public Health Sciences).
Prevention and Health Promotion (Master in Public Health)

Other Teaching

Medical sociology”, MSc in Medicine.

Previous course leaderships

Survey methods (MPH Emory University);