Research Areas
I run a research program that combines my two main interests, the epidemiology of pregnancy complications (chiefly preeclampsia, but also pregnancy loss and preterm delivery) and cardiovascular and renal disease epidemiology. My core research group, which currently includes 4 University of Copenhagen Ph.D. students and a statistician, works on a range of register-based, laboratory-based and genetic epidemiology studies.
I am PI of the PEACH (PreEclampsia, Angiogenesis, Cardiac dysfunction, and Hypertension) study, a study seeking better ways to phenotype preeclampsia subtypes based on biomarkers and cardiac function measurements and to identify women at greatest risk of cardiovascular disease following preeclampsia. I am also Data Director for the Copenhagen Baby Heart study, a population-based study with cardiac echocardiography on 25,000 newborns that we are using to study the effect of maternal pregnancy complications on offspring cardiac structure, function, and development.
| Education |
|
| 2003 |
PhD in Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA |
| 1996 |
B.Sc. (Hons.) in Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada |
| Employment |
|
| 2011- |
Senior researcher, Department of Epidemiology Research, SSI |
| 2004-2011 |
Researcher, Department of Epidemiology Research, SSI
|
| 1999-2004 |
Guest researcher, Division of Parasitic Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, USA |
| Professional Activities and Leadership Positions |
2018-
|
Data Director, Copenhagen Baby Heart study (baby-heart.dk) |
2017-
|
Member, Communications Steering Committee, SSI |
| 2016- |
Member, Steering Committee, Copenhagen Baby Heart study |
| 2015- |
Principal Investigator, PEACH study |
| 2010- |
Research group leader (Pregnancy Complications and Cardiovascular Disease), Department of Epidemiology Research, SSI |
| Prizes and Honours |
| 2015 |
Added to the AcademiaNet Expert Database for Outstanding Female Academics (www.academia-net.org) |
| 2014 |
Recipient of DFF-YDUN (Younger women Devoted to a UNiversity career) grant for research talents |
| International Collaborations |
• Reference values for cardiac function during pregnancy, with Professors Basky Thilaganathan
and Asma Khalil (St. George’s University Hospital, UK)
|
• Biological markers of later cardiovascular disease risk in women with a history of preeclampsia,
with Professors Mark Hlatky, Virginia Winn, Marcia Stefanick, David Stevenson (Stanford University, USA)
|
• Incorporation of pregnancy complications into risk scores to evaluate cardiovascular disease risk in women, with Professor Padma Kaul (University of Alberta, Canada), Prof. Basky Thilaganathan (St. George’s University Hospital, UK), Prof. Lucy Chappell (King’s College London, UK), Fergus McCarthy (University College Cork, Ireland), and Prof. Annemarie Hennessy (Western Sydney University, Australia)
|
