Research council to strengthen collaboration on cancer research in Aarhus
With a new research council, cancer research at Aarhus University Hospital and Aarhus University will work better together. The goal is more synergy and greater impact.
Facts: Aarhus Comprehensive Cancer Centre Research Council
- Purpose: Create a common, strategic research focus in the field of cancer and increase synergy between AUH and AU
- Members: 17 members from AUH and AU Health, including associate dean for research, head of department, and professors from the Department of Clinical Medicine, Department of Biomedicine, and Department of Public Health
- Chair: Signe Borgquist, clinical chair professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine, AU and the Cancer Department, AUH.
- Secretariat: CCC Secretariat, AUH
Cancer research at Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) is comprehensive and strong.
But how do we ensure that the many research activities work together? And that the research makes a real difference for patients?
These are some of the central questions that the new Aarhus Comprehensive Cancer Centre (CCC) Research Council will help address.
The council has just had its terms of reference approved, which emphasize synergy, strategic focus, and strong coherence between research across Health and AUH.
"We must ensure that the CCC Research Council does not become an isolated initiative, but a natural part of the overall research effort. This requires close collaboration with AUH and across the faculty's departments and active connection to our other research activities," says associate dean for research at Health, Per Brøndsted Höllsberg.
International auditors posed critical questions
The background for the new research council includes, among other things, a visit from six international auditors in April 2025.
On the one hand, they were impressed by the cancer research in Aarhus with nearly 700 research articles on cancer in 2023 – a large proportion of them with high impact factor.
But the auditors also posed some challenging questions about whether there is sufficient coherence between the many research activities. And what concrete difference does the research make for patients?
Strategic focus and synergy
The terms of reference for the CCC Research Council emphasize that the council should "support and work toward a common, strategic research focus in the field of cancer" and "create synergy in cancer research to increase its yield and impact in the field of cancer at AUH and AU."
"We need to have a clearer direction for what we research and build stronger bridges between our research activities," says chair of the CCC Research Council and clinical chair professor Signe Borgquist.
The CCC Research Council additionally consists of two junior researchers and several professors, clinical professors, and chair professors from various specialties, all of whom have patients with cancer.
From AU, in addition to associate dean Per Höllsberg, head of department for the Department of Clinical Medicine Jørgen Frøkiær also participates, as well as professors from the Department of Biomedicine and the Department of Public Health.
A central element is that the CCC Research Council will expand collaboration with the Translational Cancer Network at Health, AU.
The council will also promote knowledge sharing between cancer research groups and ensure that initiatives from both the AUH Research Council and AU work together with cancer research.
Contact
Vice dean for Research Per Brøndsted Höllsberg
Aarhus University, Health
Phone: 51362353
pbh@au.dk