New knowledge and inspiration for Danish diabetes centres
The Danish Diabetes Academy has granted DKK 16.6 million to thirteen young diabetes researchers and three visiting professors, including more funds targeting the psychological consequences of diabetes.
Thirteen young diabetes researchers will learn today that they can get on with their work for some years to come. Seven of them will be doing PhDs; six will undergo postdoc training, and their funding has been ensured by the Danish Diabetes Academy (DDA). The DDA has also secured new knowledge and inspiration for Danish diabetes research as a whole: three visiting professors from Australia, Austria and the UK will come to Denmark to share their expert knowledge.
The Danish Diabetes Academy has distributed a total of DKK 16.6 million in this round.
The research being supported by the DDA this time is more closely concerned than usual with prevention and treatment for people with, or at risk of, diabetes.
‘The applications from clinics were of extraordinarily high quality this year, according to our international panel of experts. They have therefore recommended that we allocate half the money this year to young, talented doctors’, says the Danish Diabetes Academy’s Chairman, Professor Allan Flyvbjerg of the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen.
He stresses that the results the doctors are looking for will typically benefit patients rapidly.
‘They are surrounded by the reality, by patients with mental and physical problems who are at increased risk of heart disease and in need of help to tackle excess weight and fatty liver. That gets them looking for solutions, and it is a great pleasure for the DDA to be able to contribute the necessary funding’, says Professor Allan Flyvbjerg.
The psychological effects of diabetes loom ever larger in Danish diabetes research, and that is reflected in this application round.
For example, one of the researchers will be looking into whether the risk of diabetes complications and mental illness in people with type 1 diabetes is wholly or partly predictable. The goal is to find those children with type 1 diabetes who are in the risk group so that they can be given special support early on.
Another project will investigate whether treating type 2 diabetes patients with antidepressants can improve the outlook as regards physical complications, pain conditions and, ultimately, survival. The hypothesis is that it can.
One of the visiting professors coming with support from the DDA is a Briton, Jackie Sturt from King’s College London. She has been involved in developing interventions to help the spouses of people with diabetes, who are also affected psychologically by ‘diabetes-related stress’ and worry – very often more severely than the one who is ill.
The recipients come from Rigshospitalet, Hillerød Hospital, the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Aarhus University, the University of Copenhagen and Odense University Hospital.
See the full list of recipients.
The Danish Diabetes Academy was founded in 2012 and is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Its mission is to train the diabetes researchers and practitioners of the future.
CONTACT DETAILS
Professor Allan Flyvbjerg, Chairman, Danish Diabetes Academy
Allan.flyvbjerg@regionh.dk
+45 51 77 95 48
Tore Sønne Christiansen, Managing Director, Danish Diabetes Academy,
Tore.christiansen@rsyd.dk
+45 2964 6764.