AU professor to lead Danish register-based research

The Ministry of Higher Education and Science has just established a new Coordinating Body for Register-based Research (abbreviated as KOR in Danish). It is a part of the ministry's plan to reorganise and prioritise register-based research:

"KOR is really good news for Danish register-based research. We will work to create better access to data registers and increase our dialogue with researchers to generally create a better framework for register-based research. I am looking forward to get started," says Professor Henrik Toft Sørensen, the new chairman of KOR.

He has many years of experience with clinical research from his position as head of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital, as the department is engaged in register-based research in the healthcare sector. He has also been an honorary professor at a number of American universities for many years.

Register-based research is crucial

The new KOR consists of experts from the university environments together with Denmark’s National Institute for Local and Regional Analysis and Research (abbreviated as KORA in Danish). It differs from the previous version of KOR in that there are not any representatives from the government agencies and institutions that are responsible for data management.

One of the central tasks for the new KOR will be to ensure good access to register information so that important research is not delayed by administrative barriers:

"Register-based research provides an insight into new contexts and helps, among other things, to improve the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. So it therefore improves the outlook for patients as well. It is therefore extremely important that the researchers have easy access to the registers," says Henrik Toft Sørensen.

He underlines that KOR’s work will be strengthened by the creation on an independent KOR secretariat so that the interests of the register-based research environment can be better coordinated.

Grant of DKK 15.3 million

The new KOR will administer a project grant of DKK 15.3 million over three years. The projects will include the creation of a multi-generation register, better use of research machines at the research service centres at Statistics Denmark and SSI (Denmark’s National Institute for Health Data and Disease Control), as well as creating an overview of administrative data sources that are difficult to access etc. The grant comes from the research infrastructure pool and is part of the project "Reorganisation and strengthening of Danish register-based research."

• Professor, Consultant Henrik Toft Sørensen, Aarhus University (chairman)
• Head of Research Hans Hummelgaard, KORA
• Professor Preben Bo Mortensen, Aarhus University
• Professor Lisbeth B. Knudsen, Aalborg University
• Professor Marianne Simonsen, Aarhus University
• Professor, Medical Specialist Mogens Vestergaard, Aarhus University
• Clinical Professor, Consultant Merete Osler, University of Copenhagen
• Department Head, Professor Kirsten Ohm Kyvik, University of Southern Denmark
• Clinical Professor, Consultant Niels Obel, University of Copenhagen
• Director of Research Lars Hvilsted Rasmussen, Aalborg University
• Professor Lotte Bøgh Andersen, Aarhus University
• Professor Morten Grønbæk, University of Southern Denmark

Henrik Toft Sørensen, professor, consultant, MD, PhD
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine, Department of Clinical Epidemiology
Email: hts@dce.au.dk
Tel.: +45 8716 8215