DDA-Funded Researchers Wins Prestigious Award from EASO
by Mie Tomzak
Jonas Salling Quist receives this year’s New Investigator Award in Clinical Research from the EASO.
DDA-funded researcher Jonas Salling Quist has won this year’s New Investigator Award in Clinical Research from the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO). He will receive the award at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht in May.
The award is given to an outstanding young researcher who has made a significant contribution to clinical research in the field of overweight and obesity and who has a promising career ahead of them. It may be the greatest recognition for an early career researcher within clinical obesity research.
“I am honoured and proud to win this year’s New Investigator Award in Clinical Research from the EASO”, says Jonas Salling Quist.
Jonas Salling Quist is a PhD and postdoctoral researcher at Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen. Him and his colleagues’ research has contributed to the understanding of the effects of exercise on energy balance and appetite control in individuals with overweight and obesity, as well as the importance of adequate sleep for cardiometabolic health, and dietary risk factors for obesity. Furthermore, the ongoing research will contribute to the understanding of the role of timing of lifestyle factors i.e., exercise, food intake, and sleep on body weight, cardiometabolic health, and appetite in the prevention and treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes.
“In my research, I focus on circadian rhythm and the complex interrelationship between physical activity, nutrition, and sleep in relation to prevention and treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, design and testing of lifestyle interventions with involvement of the end users in the design phase and evaluation in collaboration with qualitative researchers are central parts of my research,” explains Jonas Salling Quist.
An award such as this is, of course, a massive credit, and we asked Jonas what it means to him.
“The award is a great and important recognition of our work, and I am extremely honoured and grateful to win it. I don’t think that I have really understood it yet. It may be clearer and more real when I receive the award at the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht in May. It is important for me to stress that the award is also a recognition of a lot of excellent colleagues, collaborators, and friends at Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, the University of Copenhagen, and other institutions in DK and abroad. I spend a lot of my time and energy on research, but without the collaboration with and support from excellent people, it would not be possible to win the award. Furthermore, I am grateful for the endless support from my mentors, Professor Kristine Færch and Professor Bente Stallknecht, who have had and still have a significant impact on my motivation, curiosity, development, and persistence in research. The award is an important recognition of our previous and ongoing research, but it also has a great impact on my motivation for continuing our work with the overall aim to improve the life of people with overweight and type 2 diabetes and to prevent people from developing overweight and type 2 diabetes,” says Jonas Salling Quist.
We contacted one of his mentors, Professor Kristine Færch who is Head of Clinical Prevention Research at Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, to get a comment on the happy news.
“It is very well deserved that Jonas receives this prestigious award. Jonas has in recent years contributed to changing the ways we conduct research in our department. He is creative, enterprising, sets the bar high, and always focuses on including the target group in development and testing of interventions. At SDCC, we are very proud of having such a talented employee, who besides being an extraordinarily skilled and well-liked researcher also has a great sense for educating the next generation of researchers. He inspires so many around him – both the younger and the more established researchers,” says Kristine Færch about Jonas Salling Quist.
Besides the award, Jonas has also been given a travel grant from EASO. The grant is going to cover his expenses related to attending the European Congress on Obesity in Maastricht in May, where he will also be giving two oral presentations.
“In addition to a presentation at the award session at the conference, I have two oral presentations about some of our recent work. One presentation is about the effects of acute exercise and exercise training on the protein Groth Differentiation Factor 15 (GDF15) in individuals with overweight and obesity, and the associations with appetite and cardiometabolic health. The other presentation is about how inadequate sleep negatively affects insulin sensitivity,” explains Jonas Salling Quist.
Read EASO’s story on Jonas here: EASO EARLY CAREER AWARD WINNER IN CLINICAL RESEARCH: SPOTLIGHT ON Jonas Salling Quist - EASO