The one-day symposium was held at the Holst Auditorium at the Maersk Tower, University of Copenhagen. Those who may be familiar with the size of the Holst Auditorium, know that it can fit a large audience - and that was exactly what Louise and Pauline managed to do by gathering almost 100 participants.

With their interesting symposium about early growth and adiposity and the risk of cardiometabolic disease in a life course perspective, Louise and Pauline combined research within genetics and metabolomics with research within obstetrics, pediatrics, and epidemiology. With this topic, they aimed to facilitate an interdisciplinary discussion of the complex mechanisms involved in the associations between early growth, adiposity, and later disease.

For the day, Louise and Pauline had lined up a programme with national and international speakers from both basic and clinical research:

• Dr. Alice Hughes, PhD, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
• Associate Professor Tine Dalsgaard Clausen, Center for Pregnant Women with Diabetes, Rigshospitalet, Denmark 
• Clinical Associate Professor, Jens-Christian Holm, The Children’s Obesity Clinic, Department of Paediatrics, Holbæk Hospital, Denmark 
• Assistant Professor, Roelof Smit, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Associate Professor, Jennifer Lyn Baker, Center for Clinical Research and Prevention, Frederiksberg Hospital, Denmark
• Postdoc Sara Elizabeth Stinson, University of Oslo, Norway

”The symposium exceeded all our expectations, and we feel very privileged to have had this opportunity. With nearly 100 participants at different career stages in different fields and six amazing speakers – both national and international – the event facilitated great discussions and provided new insights and perspectives on the roles of prenatal exposures, childhood obesity, genetics, biomarkers, and life course epidemiology in the scope of cardiometabolic disease", Pauline says.

More than just a Midterm Symposium

A lot of new connections and ideas for new collaborations and study groups were formed during this event.

"Coming together and joining efforts to battle complex issues like obesity cardiometabolic disease is what – from our perspective – makes research truly meaningful. We are proud of how this symposium turned out and very thankful to the speakers and the participants for their inspiring and engaging contributions. This has been a great experience and a unique opportunity to expand our scientific network” Pauline adds. 

DCAcademy Midterm Symposium topics

A DCAcademy Midterm Symposium is a mandatory element of the DCAcademy Grant Recipient programme. Here are some examples from previous and upcoming Midterm Symposia:

• Cardiac CT and AutoPlaque by Selma Hasific, PhD, 2023
• Healthy Lifestyle by Katja Thorøe Michler, PhD, 2023
• PhD Hacks, Career, & Work Life Balance by Nicolai Palstrøm, PhD, Stephanie Thuy Duong Pham, PhD, and Andrietta Grentzmann, PhD, 2024
• MRI in the Study of Myocardial Metabolism and Tissue Characterization by Josephine Maria Kanta, PhD and Katrine Aagaard Myhr, PhD, 2024.