New professor in genetic hormone-related diseases

Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital have just appointed Claus Højbjerg Gravholt as professor. Using two platforms – the Department of Endocrinology and Internal Medicine and the Department of Molecular Medicine – he conducts research in the intersection between endocrinology and genetics. He has spent many years conducting research into e.g. Turner syndrome, where women suffering from the disease are typically characterised by low height, a lack of oestrogen and infertility, as well as an increased risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

"Together with my colleagues I try to understand the background for why chromosome disorders arise. The idea is that this can help us to understand large groups of diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, which are often seen in patients with Turner syndrome and Klinefelter syndrome," he explains.

Claus Højbjerg Gravholt uses many different methods in clinical, endocrinological, genetic, epidemiological and experimental studies. Focus is on growth factors, androgens, oestrogens, diabetes and metabolism, epidemiology, cardiology and genetics. This means that one goal of his research is to get a “360-degree” picture of the patient with Turner syndrome or Klinefelter syndrome.

"The research is naturally in the first instance important for the patients, but after that it is also important in a larger context for understanding many disease processes on different levels including genetic, molecular, clinical and epidemiological," says Claus Højbjerg Gravholt.

Further information

Professor Claus Højbjerg Gravholt
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Molecular Medicine
Direct tel.: +45 7845 5365
claus.gravholt@clin.au.dk