Professor Søren Dinesen Østergaard from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital – Psychiatry Services receives the Lundbeck Foundation’s Young Investigator Award 2020 in recognition of his efforts to develop new tools for measuring the severity of psychiatric disorders and the effectiveness of treatment.

2020.10.13 | Sabina Bjerre Hansen

Søren Dinesen Østergaard from the Department of Clinical Medicine receives the Lundbeck Foundation's Young Investigator Award 2020 of DKK one million. Photo: Martin Gravgaard.

Søren Dinesen Østergaard receives this year’s Young Investigator Award because he has delivered a range of important research results within the field of psychiatric disorders.

Working with his research colleagues, Søren Dinesen Østergaard has succeeded in developing tools in the form of scales that can measure the effect of the treatment of disorders such as psychotic depression and schizophrenia. These tools can be used in clinical practice for the benefit of both patients and healthcare professionals.

Psychiatric disorders are often accompanied by other forms of vulnerability, which means that people suffering from psychiatric disorders statistically have a significant excess mortality in comparison with the rest of the population. One of the projects that Søren Dinesen Østergaard is currently working on focuses on identifying the factors behind this excess mortality. This involves analysing large amounts of DNA and registered health data from Danish patients, and the project takes place in collaboration with iPSYCH, the Lundbeck Foundation's Initiative for Integrated Psychiatric Research.

Søren Dinesen Østergaard's ambition is to contribute to ensuring that mental health services are in a position to offer the individual patient precisely the treatment he or she needs.

The award includes a grant of DKK one million.

Contact
Professor Søren Dinesen Østergaard
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Mental Health Services – Department of Affective Disorders
Mobile: (+45) 6128 2753
Email: sdo@clin.au.dk

This coverage is based on press material from the Lundbeck Foundation.