Next stop, San Francisco
Meet the DARE Fellows 2023: Anna-Sophie Thein, Jakob Sørensen, Laurits Mathiesen, Pam Huntjens og Frederikke Elnegaard
Five talented young researchers are about to take off on a fascinating journey that will shape their careers. They will spend the next ten months working hard on research secondments at some of the most prestigious universities in the USA.
It isn’t every day that young medical students get to call themselves researchers and rub shoulders with the elite. But that is exactly what the five new DARE Fellows can look forward to when they land in California and pull on their lab coats to conduct research in world-leading facilities at Stanford University and the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF).
For the ninth year in a row, Danish medical students with an appetite for research will receive pre-graduate scholarships from the Lundbeck Foundation and travel to the USA on secondment. The five young students have no need for false modesty. To pass through the eye of the needle, they had to submit project proposals, apply to the Foundation and display incredible talent and initiative. They now have the chance to pursue their ambitions in one of the world’s leading research and entrepreneurship hubs and be mentored by an elite scientist.
Wide range of projects
The projects all fall within the spectrum of medical science, but the students will spend the year researching a wide range of topics: Early signs of psychosis and schizophrenia, networks and new mathematical models to develop therapies for spasticity and musculoskeletal injuries, predicting cardiac patients’ need for pacemakers, the genetics of rare brain disorders and pathogenic intestinal bacteria in chronic disease sufferers.
Danish American Research Exchange (DARE) is an all-inclusive programme that gives the participants free rein to pursue their ambitions and dreams of a research career.
The five students will live together in San Francisco.
What are the programme criteria?
It is no mean achievement to be accepted for the DARE programme in San Francisco. However, the basic requirements are that you are studying medicine at a Danish university and have completed your Bachelor’s degree. Above-average talent is, of course, also a must.
The students’ projects must be approved before they set off for the USA, and they must also have a Danish and an American mentor lined up to provide support and guidance. The five students will be enrolled at Stanford or UCSF and attend classes throughout their stay.
They will complete a research project and, in time, publish the results in an international journal.
The DARE FELLOWSHIP programme is run by Innovation Centre Denmark, with funding from the Lundbeck Foundation.
Meet the five DARE Fellows 2023:
Anna-Sophie Thein is studying medicine at the University of Copenhagen and will spend the next ten months researching arrhythmia at the...
Pam Huntjens will target gut bacteria in her research at the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF).
Frederikke Elnegaard is taking a break from her medical studies at Aalborg University to conduct research on the early signs of...
Jakob Sørensen is hunting down the connections in the central nervous system that are messed up by a spinal cord injury.
Laurits Mathiesen has put his medical studies at Aalborg University on hold for a year to conduct research at the University of...
