My research focuses on cognitive functions in normal and clinical populations. My aim is to to identify cognitive markers that can help elucidate disease mechanisms in neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and epilepsy and ultimately help improve patient treatment. I am also interested in how cognitive performance is related to structural, functional and molecular features in the brain, particulalarly serotonergic neurotransmission, and how pharmacological interventions alters cognitive functioning. Lastly, I have a keen interest in reproducible and open science
and work to promote transparent research methods.

Education and experience

2022-2023: Visiting senior research associate at School of Psychological Sciences, University of Bristol      

2021: Clinical psychologist at Psychotherapy Clinic, Capitol Region Psychiatry

2020-: Postdoctoral research fellow at Neurobiology Research Unit

2020: Clinical psychologist at the Epilepsy Clinic, Rigshospitalet

2017-2019: PhD-student at Neurobiology Research Unit, Rigshospitalet

2016-2017: Research assistant at Neurobiology Research Unit, Rigshospitalet

2016: MSc in Psychology from the University of Copenhagen

2012: BSc in Psychology from the University of Copenhagen

Supervisor and leadership roles

2022: Visiting researcher at Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen

2021-: Group leader of NRU Cognitive Neuropsychology group 

2020-2022: Chair of Lundbeck BrainDrugs Early-Career Forum

2015-: PhD co-supervisor (1); external supervisor for master thesis projects (2); supervisor for stud.psych interns (2); supervisor for elective research student (1); day-to-day supervision of psychology- and medical students (+20)

Open research activities

2022-: Steering committee member of the Danish Reproducibility Network (DKRN)

2022: Interview in ScienceReport.dk: Sådan løser vi det kritiserede publikationssystem

2022: Interview in ScienceReport.dk: Forskere kritiserer tredoblet betaling til ‘parasitsystem’

Publications:

First authorships

1. *Köhler-Forsberg, K., *Dam, V.H., Ozenne, B., Sankar, A, Beliveau, V., Landman, E.B., Larsen, S.V., Poulsen, A.S., Ip, C., Jørgensen, A., Meyer, M., Stenbæk, D.S., Madsen, J., Eiberg, H.R.L., Svarer, C., Jørgensen, M.B., *Frokjaer, V.G. & *Knudsen, G.M. (2023). Serotonin 4 receptor brain binding in major
   depressive disorder and its relation to memory dysfuntion: A NeuroPharm Study. JAMA Psychiatry. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.4539 *Authors contributed equally
2. Dam, V.H., Stenbæk, D.S., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Ip, C., Ozenne, B., Sahakian, B.S., Knudsen, G.M., Jørgensen, M.B. & Frokjaer, V.G. (2022). Evaluating cognitive disturbances as treatment target and predictor of antidepressant action in Major Depressive Disorder: A NeuroPharm study. Translational Psychiatry 12, 468 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-022-02240-1
3. *Dam, V.H., *Hjordt, L.V., da Cunha-Bang, S., Sestoft, D., Knudsen, G.M., Stenbæk, D.S. (2021). Trait aggression is associated with five-factor personality traits in males. Brain and Behavior 11. 10.1002/brb3.2175. *Authors contributed equally
4. Dam, V.H., Stenbæk, D.S., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Ip, C., Ozenne, B., Sahakian, B.J., Knudsen, G.M., Frokjaer, V.G. (2020). Hot and cold cognitive disturbances in antidepressant-free patients with Major Depressive Disorder: A NeuroPharm study. Psychological Medicine, 1-10.
5. Dam, V.H., Thystrup, C.K., Jensen, P.S., Bland, A.R., Mortensen, E.L., Sahakian, B.J., Elliott, R., Knudsen, G.M., Frokjaer, V.G., Stenbæk, D.S. (2019). Psychometric properties and validation of the EMOTICOM test battery in a healthy Danish Population. Frontiers in Psychology, 10.
6. *Stenbaek, D.S., *Dam, V.H., Fisher, P.M., Hansen, N., Hjordt, L.V., & Frokjaer, V.G. (2017). No evidence for a role of the serotonin 4 receptor in five-factor personality traits: A positron emission tomography brain study. PLoS ONE, 12(9), e0184403. *Authors contributed equally

Co-authorships

1. Sankar, A., Ziersen, S.C., Ozenne, B., Beaman, E.E., Dam, V.H., Fisher, P.M., Knudsen, G.M., Kessing, L.V., Frokjaer, V.G. & Miskowiak, K.W. (2023). Association of neurocognitive function with psychiatric hospitalization and socio-demographic conditions in individuals with bipolar and major depressive disorders (2023). eClinMedicine (accepted)
2. Sankar, A., Ozenne, B., Dam, V.H., Svarer, C., Jørgensen, M.B., Miskowiak, K.W., Frokjaer, V.G., Knudsen, G.M. & Fisher, P.M. (2023). Association Between Brain Serotonin 4 Receptor Binding and Reactivity to Emotional Faces in Humans. Translational Psychiatry (accepted)
3. Jensen, K.H., Dam, V.H., Ganz, M., Fisher, P.M., Frokjaer, V.G., Knudsen, G.M. & Jørgensen, M.B. (2023). Precision medicine in treatment of first episode depression – establishing the BrainDrugsdepression cohort. BMJ Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 9;23(1):151. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04618-x. PMID:
   36894940; PMCID: PMC9999625.
4. Ip, C., Ganz, M., Ozenne, B., Olbrich, S., Beliveau, V., Dam, V.H., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Jørgensen, M.B., Frokjaer, V.G. & Knudsen, G.M (2022). Association between loudness dependence of auditory evoked potential, serotonergic neurotransmission and treatment outcome in patients with depression.European Neuropsychopharmacology. 2023 May;70:32-44. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2023.02.008. Epub 2023 Feb 28. PMID: 36863106.
5. Beliveau, V., Hedeboe, E., Fisher, P.M., Dam, V.H., Jørgensen, M.B., Frokjaer, V.G., Knudsen, G.M. & Ganz, M. (2022). Generalizability of Treatment Outcome Prediction in Major Depressive Disorder Using Structural MRI: A NeuroPharm Study. Neuroimage Clinical. 2022;36:103224. doi:1016/j.nicl.2022.103224. Epub 2022 Oct 10. PMID: 36252556; PMCID: PMC9668596.
6. Köhler-Forsberg, K., Ozenne, B., Larsen, S.V., Poulsen, A.S., Landman, E.B., Dam, V.H., Ip, C., Jørgensen, A., Svarer, C., Knudsen, G.M., Frokjaer, V.G. & Jørgensen, M. B. (2022). Concurrent anxiety in patients with major depression and cerebral serotonin 4 receptor binding. A NeuroPharm-1
   study. Translational Psychiatry. 11;12(1):273
7. Fisher, P. M., Ozenne, B., Ganz, M., Frokjaer, V.G., Dam, V.H., Jensen, P.S., Knudsen, G.M. & Jørgensen, M.B. (2022). Emotional faces processing in major depressive disorder and prediction of
   antidepressant treatment response – A NeuroPharm Study. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2002 May; 36/5:626-636
8. Larsen, S.V., Ozenne, B., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Poulsen, A.S., Dam, V.H., Svarer, C., Knudsen, G.M., Jørgensen, M.B. & Frokjaer, V.G. (2022). The impact of hormonal contraceptive use on serotonergic neurotransmission and antidepressant treatment response: Results from the NeuroPharm 1 study. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2022, 13:799675.
9. Høgh, S., Hegaard, H.K., Renault, K.M., Cvetonovska, E., Kjærby-Thygesen, A., Larsen, C.B., Bjertrup, A.J., Miskowiak, K.W., Væver, M., Stenbæk, D.S., Dam, V.H., Ozenne, B. & Frøkjær, V.G. (2021).
   Short-term estrogen as a strategy to prevent postpartum depression in high-risk women: protocol for the double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled MAMA clinical trial. BMJ Open. 2021;11:e052922
10. Høgsted, E.S., Borgsted, C., Dam, V.H., Nasser, A., Jørgensen, N.R., Ozenne, B., Stenbæk, S.D. & Frokjaer, V. G (2021). Stress-hormone dynamics and working memory in healthy women who use oral contraceptives versus non-users. Frontiers in Endocrinology. 2021 Nov 8;12:731994.
11. Ip, C., Ganz, M., Dam, V.H., Ozenne, B., Rüesch, A., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Jørgensen, M.B., Frokjaer, V.G., Søgaard, B., Christensen, S.R., Knudsen, G.M. & Olbrich, S. (2021). NeuroPharm Study: EEG wakefulness regulation as a biomarker in MDD. Journal of psychiatric research. 2021;141:57-65.
12. Ip, C., Olbrich, S., Ganz, M., Ozenne, B., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Dam, V.H., Beniczky, S., Jørgensen, M. B., Frokjaer, V.G., Søgaard, B., Christensen, S.R. & Knudsen, G.M. (2021). Pretreatment qEEG biomarkers for predicting pharmacological treatment outcome in Major Depressive Disorder:
    Independent validation from the NeuroPharm study. European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021;49:101-12.
13. Larsen, S.V., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Dam, V.H., Poulsen, A.S., Svarer, C., Jensen, P., Knudsen, G.M., MacDonald Fisher, P., Ozenne, B. & Frokjaer, V.G. (2020). Oral contraceptives and serotonergic brain architecture: A molecular brain imaging study in healthy women. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2020
    Oct;142(4):294-306.
14. Köhler-Forsberg, K., Jørgensen, A., Dam, V.H., Stenbæk, D.S., Fischer, P., Ip, C., Poulsen, H.E., Giraldi, A., Ozenne, B., Jørgensen, M.B., Knudsen, G.M. & Frokjaer, V.G. (2020). Predicting treatment outcome in Major Depressive Disorder using serotonin 4 receptor PET brain imaging, functional MRI,
    cognitive-, EEE-based and peripheral biomarkers: a NeuroPharm open label clinical trial protocol. Frontiers in Psychiatry 11.
15. Hjordt, L.V., Ozenne, B., Armand, S., Dam, V.H., Jensen, C.G., Köhler-Forsberg, K., Knudsen, G.M. & Stenbæk, D.S. (2020). Psychometric properties of the Verbal Affective Memory Test-26 and evaluation of affective biases in Major Depressive Disorder. Frontiers in Psychology, 11.
16. Hjordt, L.V., Dam, V.H., Ozenne, B., Hagemann, I., McMachon, B., Mortensen, E.L., Knudsen, G.M., Stenbæk, D.S. (2018) Self-perceived personality characteristics in seasonal affective disorder and their implications for severity of depression. Psychiatry Res, 262:108-114.
17. *da Cunha-Bang, S., *Hjordt, L.V., Dam, V.H., Stenbæk, D.S., Sestoft, D. & Knudsen, G.M. (2017). Anterior cingulate serotonin 1B receptor binding is associated with emotional response inhibition. J Psychiatr Res, 92:199-204. * Authors contributed equally

Book chapters

1. Dam, V.H., Langley, C., Stenbæk, D.S. & Sahakian, B.J. (2023). EMOTICOM Test Battery. In Boyle G.J. & Sahakian, B.J. (Eds.), SAGE Handbook of Clinical Neuropsychology Vol. 2 (Chapter 17). SAGE Publications.