Welcome to the DARE Fellowship Community!
Ever curious about the life-changing impact of the DARE Fellowship? Look no further.
We've tapped into the treasure trove of experiences from our esteemed alumni. Their candid narratives offer a genuine glimpse into the transformative power of this journey.
Step into their world and explore the echoes of their adventures – in their own words.
Alumni
Cohort 2022-2023
Christine Marie Haarslev Nielsen
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Southern Denmark.
Christine Marie Haarslev Nielsen conducted research and study at Stanford University. Her research revolved around neuroinflammation after stroke and obesity.
“DARE has given me the opportunity to attend one of the best universities worldwide, which allowed me to gain experience working within an international, fast paced, highly skilled research environment. I also got to see a healthcare system outside of Denmark, which gave me new valuable perspectives on health care. Through the ICDK team, I got the change to be a part of an inspiring study environment, and to participate in the 10$ Challenge. This was really an eye-opener for me regarding innovative and digital solutions to challenges in the healthcare sector, and it’s something I want to pursue even more in the future - something that would not have happened without DARE. Last but not least, I have gained an increased believe in myself and many lovely memories from living in and traveling the US for a year.”
Christine had Professor Kate Lambertsen as her mentor at University of Southern Denmark, and Professor Marion Buckwalter as her mentor at Stanford University.
Camilla Wibrand
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aarhus University.
Camilla Wibrand conducted research and study at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research revolved around the autoimmune disease juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM), which is a rare and serious condition, where the immune system attacks muscle and skin tissue.
"DARE provided an opportunity to dive deep into a complex, scientific topic surrounded by world-leading experts within the field and with the incredible DARE-team to back me up, making the stay not only a unique addition to my professional career, but also a safe introduction to medical research and living abroad. Furthermore, I got to live and make friends with the 4 other amazing DARE-students, which made the stay even better ”.
In her project, Camilla investigated the role of the immune cell repertoire, searching for the reason patients develop JDM, potential new treatment targets, and biomarkers using computational immunology. Camilla was mentored by Dr. Marina Sirota and Dr. Jessica Neely from the University of California, San Francisco, and Prof. Dr.med. Troels Herlin from Aarhus University.
Ingrid Wiggers
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aarhus University.
Ingrid Wiggers conducted research and study at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research revolved around tuberculosis (TB). With one-fourth of the world’s population being infected by TB bacteria and more than 10 million people falling ill with active TB disease annually, the human costs of TB are staggering.
“The DARE fellowship provides a unique opportunity to combine world-class research, cultural exchange, and biomedical innovation. Throughout the program, I experienced the ambitious and inspiring research environment at UCSF first-hand and gained insight into a different healthcare setting. With Silicon Valley around the corner and biweekly classes in innovation, the program also spurred my interest in how technology can help us tackle current and future global health challenges.”
Ingrid had Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Experimental Medicine, UCSF, Joel Ernst as her American mentor.
Ditte Kamille Rasmussen
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aarhus University.
Ditte Kamille Rasmussen conducted research and study at Stanford University. Her research revolved around Age-related Macular Degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in both Denmark and the US, with up to 10% of the population above age 75 affected. Patients experience loss of central vision as well as blurring and distortion. Many different genetic variations have been identified as risk factors for AMD, and Ditte tested whether this knowledge can be utilized in the development of new therapies. “The idea is, that if an overactive gene causes increased risk of developing AMD, then inhibiting the gene may work as a potential treatment.” Ditte had Dr. Vinit Mahajan as her mentor at Stanford University.
Anna Skovgaard Lerche
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Copenhagen.
Anna Skovgaard Lerche conducted research and study at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focused on the novel treatment possibility for several psychiatric disorders, the hallucinogenic compound Psilocybin. She was looking at how Psilocybin affects the immune system and neural plasticity in the brain, and whether these two factors correlate with depressive scores, before and after administration of a single oral dose of psilocybin in patients with Major Depressive Disorder. “We will investigate whether Psilocybin’s antidepressant effects may depend on these two distinct but interacting mechanisms”. Anna was mentored by Associate Professor of Medicine, Psychiatrist, Dr. Joshua Woolley, and Associate Professor of Psychology, Dr. Aoife O’Donovan as her mentors at the University of California, San Francisco.
Cohort 2021-2022
Anna Sophie Lebech Kjær
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Copenhagen.
Anna Sophie Lebech Kjær conducted research at Stanford University. Her research revolved around insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) – a growth factor, a so-called peptide hormone, which has several functions in humans. “I wanted to investigate whether you follow a genetically determined IGF-I level throughout your life. In other words, if a high IGF-I level in childhood, all other things being equal, also remains relatively high in the more mature years - and if a low level in childhood correspondingly remains relatively low throughout life.” Anna Sophie had professor and IGF-I expert Andrew Hoffman as her mentor at Stanford University.
Rasmus Reeh
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Copenhagen.
Rasmus Reeh conducted research at the University of California, San Francisco. His research revolved around how blood sugar can affect our circadian rhythm. "All the cells of the body are equipped with a 'clock'. This means that the cells are timed and prepared to take action when they have to solve their tasks at an appropriate and anticipated time. This applies, for example, to the insulin-producing cells.” There is some evidence that sugar can help fine-tune the cells' clocks. Professor Louis Ptácek at UCSF, who is Rasmus’ American mentor, has demonstrated such a connection in cell experiments. Rasmus thus investigated whether there is a connection between high blood sugar and disturbances in the circadian rhythm.
Cathrine Korsholm
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Copenhagen.
Cathrine Korsholm conducted research at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research focused on a very rare and very serious liver disease that can affect infants and newborns - biliary atresia. The disease is annually diagnosed in 5-10 Danish children, and it is typically detected a few weeks after birth because the child develops jaundice. 85 percent of all children who get the disease have a liver transplant before they turn 20 - and worldwide, biliary atresia is the most common cause of child liver transplants. "I need to investigate whether factors in the fetal stage may be contributing to the development of the disease." Cathrine had pediatric surgeon Amar Nijagal as her mentor at UCSF.
Rasmus Hagn-Meincke
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aalborg University.
Rasmus Hagn-Meincke conducted research at Stanford University. His research revolved around the development of a system that can predict what stage a patient with chronic pancreatitis is in, based on a blood sample. “If you succeed in developing such a blood sample, you will be able to spare some of the X-ray-based examinations, such as CT scans, which are normally used to get answers to this question - and this will be an advantage for several reasons. The scans are a burden on the patient's health in the long run, and they are very expensive and far more cumbersome than a blood sample.” Rasmus had associate professor Aida Habtezion as his Mentor at Stanford University.
Sofie Nyholm Henrichsen
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aalborg University.
Sofie Nyholm Henrichsen conducted research at Stanford University. Her research revolved around the treatment of rectal cancer, where patients often receive a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy before the cancerous tissue is removed by surgery. “Somewhere between 15 and 20 percent of patients with rectal cancer are radiation-resistant. They do not benefit from the radiation treatment at all, and the question is what is behind this resistance.” More specifically, Sofie investigated whether there is a genetic background for the majority of patients with rectal cancer reacting positively to the mix of chemo and rays - while a minority of 15-20 percent do not. Sofie had cancer specialist Maximilian Diehn as her mentor at Stanford University.
Mustafa Ghanizada
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Copenhagen.
Mustafa Ghanizada conducted research at Stanford University. His research revolved around triggering autoreactive antibodies in a human in vitro model (tonsil organoids) of the adaptive immune system. “Since Paul Ehrlich -a hundred years ago- first posed the question about “Horror autotoxicus” that is, how does the immune system typically prevent pathologically self-reactivity. We, in the field of immunology, have wrestled with understanding how this works; and why it fails in millions of individuals resulting in autoimmune diseases“. Mustafa worked on generating autoreactive antibodies and identifying the precise mechanisms that prevent autoreactive antibodies from emerging: Mustafa used a human tonsil organoid model developed at Stanford; a model, which enables the study of the adaptive immune system in great detail. Mustafa had Professor Mark M. Davis at Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection and Professor Soren Buus, at the University of Copenhagen, Department of Immunology and Microbiology as his mentors.
Freja Tang Severinsen
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aalborg University.
Freja Tang Severinsen conducted research at Stanford University. Her research revolved around therapy-related infections in patients with hematologic malignancies: a focus on differences between conventional autologous transplantation and engineered T-cell therapies. “The aim is to provide data that helps inform appropriate therapy selections between HDT/ASCT andCAR-T together with patient monitoring and antibiotic prophylaxis following one of the two treatments.” Freja had Assistant Professor of Medicine, hematologist, Dr. Surbhi Sidana as her mentor at Stanford University.
Johan Anker Chrom Allerup
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, University of Copenhagen.
Johan Anker Allerup conducted research at Stanford University. His research revolved around atopic dermatitis, its environmental risk factors, genetics, and the use of digital approaches to conducting innovative decentralized dermatological research. The research utilized digitally obtained data from patients' smartphones to investigate the association between exposure to environmental factors, and changes in objective and subjective severity of atopic dermatitis along with the possible effect modification of filaggrin (FLG) loss-of-function mutations in a Danish and US study population. Johan was mentored by Professor Simon Francis Thomsen and Dr. Zarqa Ali from the Department of Dermatology, Bispebjerg Hospital, and Professor Justin M Ko from Stanford University.
Line Louise Jensen
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aarhus University.
Line Louise Jensen conducted research at Stanford University. The aim of her research was to develop human cortical and hippocampal organoids as a model system for studying neuronal and synaptic phenotypes of fragile X syndrome (FXS). “We will generate human brain organoids derived from human fragile X mental retardation 1(FMR1) gene cKO ES cells and from Fragile X syndrome patient-derived iPS cells with mutations in the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene, and perform a series of histological and functional assays to probe for synaptic defects in the developing neural circuits.” Line had Professor Dr. Lu Chen, School of Medicine as er mentor at Stanford University.
Mette Krabsmark Borbjerg
DARE-Alumni & Medical Student, Aalborg University.
Mette Krabsmark Borbjerg conducted research at the University of California, San Francisco. Her research revolved around the utility of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in the inpatient pediatric setting. “For clinical and treatment purposes it is critical to gather full and continuous information about the extent of hyper- and hypoglycemia in children with diabetes. With CGM clinicians hope to capture significant hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia that would be missed with standard POC BG monitoring.” Mette assessed the benefits of CGM in hospitalized children and build prediction models that will help clinicians make informed decisions concerning the use of CGM in pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes. Mette had Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Dr. Jenise Wong as her mentor at the University of California, San Francisco.
Cohort 2019-2020
Pernille Kjær
DARE-Alumni & Medicine Student, AAU
"The DARE fellowship is the perfect program for medical students, who would like to experience the world as part of their studies. The program opens up the opportunity to do life science research at some of the best universities in the world. At the same time, the program supports you by offering a place to live with four Danish friends, so the best of San Francisco can be explored"
Zacharias Duus Holm
DARE-Alumni & Medicine Student, KU
"For me, the DARE Fellowship has been an amazing opportunity to see healthcare and our role as healthcare personnel in a completely new light. We are situated in a new city, in a different country, and we are therefore forced to reassess our way of thinking about illness and treatment. Through DARE, I have become even more fascinated by the nexus of digital and traditional solutions to obstacles in the healthcare sector – a field that is rapidly evolving here in Silicon Valley."
Aleksander Lühr Hansen
DARE-Alumni & Medicine Student, SDU
"DARE has given me the opportunity to conduct research abroad for two semesters at some of the world's best universities while at the same time, I get the opportunity to live abroad for a longer period of time. To live in San Francisco and get to know the people here is incredibly inspiring. Everybody is ambitious and open-minded."
Jasmin Garoussian
DARE-Fellow & Medicine Student, KU
”At the University of Copenhagen, the students have the option to choose between clinical experience, research, or internationalization in their final year. The DARE program makes all three possible at once – Do research in an inspiring international environment while shadowing some of the best doctors in your field of interest. The perfect opportunity for you who think all three perspectives would be interesting and is ready to try new challenges."