Stine Kjær Urhøj

Short presentation

I'm affiliated part time with the Perinatal, Obstetric, and Pediatric Epidemiology (POPE) research group at Section of Epidemiology, Copenhagen University and part time at the Department of Pediatrics at Kolding Hospital.

My primary research focus is perinatal and pediatric epidemiology and epidemiological methods and I'm particularly interested in how conditions during pregnancy and early life influence the health of the child.

I am currently working as a postdoc on two main projects:

1. The EUROlinkCAT project (Kolding Hospital): 

The EUROlinkCAT is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmean. EUROlinkCAT will use the EUROCAT infrastructure (population-based registries for surveillance of congenital anomalies, CAs) to support 21 EUROCAT registries in 13 European countries to link their CA data to mortality, hospital discharge, prescription and educational databases. One big aim of the EUROlinkCAT is to investigate the health and educational outcomes of children with congenital anomalies for the first 10 years of their lives. In total, an estimated 200,000 children born between 1995-2014 is included. I am responsible to establishing the Danish database with the linked data and to set up and analyse data from all participating registries in some of the specific work packages. You can read more about the EUROlinkCAT here: www.eurolinkcat.eu/home

2. The WELLIFE project (Copenhagen University): 

The WELLIFE project is a NordForsk funded project using Nordic register data to explore the co-evolution of health and social factors over the life course. Social conditions, such as income, employment and family resources, matter for health, and health matters for participation in society, employment and economic well-being. These associations are well known. What is not that well-known is whether social policy, including labour market policies, modifies the extent to which the onset of illness affect living conditions, in particular employment. Also, the role of social policy in the extent to which critical life events, such as job loss, divorce or health shocks within the close family, translate into poor health and worse living conditions for parents and children. These are some of the questions investigated in the WELLIFE project. You can read more about the project here: www.publichealth.ku.dk/about-the-department/section-epidemiology/research-epi/pope/clife-and-wellife/

Doctoral thesis

In my doctoral thesis I examined the relationship between the father’s age at conception and the health and viability of the offspring, an association hypothesized to be influenced by paternal gene expression, which can be mutated as a result of the age of the father. The project was a population-based register study using Danish nation-wide registers.

Additionally, I'm involved in the EURO-PERISTAT project, a research-based EU-funded indicator project on perinatal health in Europe, where I am taking part in accomplishing the Danish contribution to the project.

During my PhD programme I was a member of several councils, boards, committees and networks including the PhD Study Board at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH, the Steering Group for the Research Education Program in Epidemiology and Public Health, UCPH, the PhD-KUFIR (University of Copenhagen’s Research and Innovation Council) and KUPE (University of Copenhagen's PhD Erfa Group).

Teaching

Teaching

• Course in Epidemiology at the BSc programme in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen
• Course in Methodology (Epidemiology) at the BSc programme in Medicine, University of Copenhagen
• Course in Social Epidemiology and Widespread Diseases at the BSc programme in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen

 Supervision

• Master's theses in the MSc degree programme in Public Health Science and MSc degree programme in Medicine (UCPH)
• Bachelor's theses in the BSc degree programme in Public Health Science (UCPH) 
• 1st year’s Project in Social Epidemiology and Public Health, Disease prevention and Health Promotion, and Sociology at the BSc programme in Public Health Science (UCPH)
• Internships in the BSc degree programme in Public Health Science (UCPH)

CV

Postdoc, Section of Epidemiology, University of Copenhagen and

Department of Pediatrics, Kolding Hospital

September 2018 -

See short presentation for more info

PhD fellow, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

January 2014 – September 2018 (including maternity leave)

Investigating the impact of the father’s age at conception on the health of the offspring in a population-based register study using Danish nation-wide registers as well as data from birth cohorts from Denmark and Norway.

Ongoing projects:
1) Advanced paternal age and risk of under-five mortality
2) Advanced paternal age and the risk of congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system in offspring

3) Advanced paternal age and childhood cancer rate
4) Advanced paternal age and stillbirth rate

5) Exploration of the dependency structure (cluster structure) among full siblings and half siblings in the Danish register information

Visiting Researcher, The Danish Cancer Society Research Center

August 2015 - November 2015

Investigating the association between the father's age at conception and the rate of childhood cancer in offspring in a population-based register study using Danish nation-wide registers.

Research Assistant at Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

April 2013 - December 2013

Completion of the Danish contribution to The European Perinatal Health Report 2010
(www.europeristat.com)

Student Assistant at Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

2012-2013

Preparation of the Danish contribution to The European Perinatal Health Report 2010 incl. data analysis of reproductive and perinatal conditions

Student Assistant at Section of Biostatistics, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

2007-2012

Internship: DANIDA, Zanzibar, Tanzania

Spring 2009

Project: The Wired Mothers project.
Project aim: to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity by improving contact (primarily by the use of mobile phones) between the pregnant women and health professionals at the local health clinics.

Education

MSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen

2009-2013 (including maternity leave)

Thesis: Paternal age and the risk of congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system in offspring – a population-based register study.
Grade: 12.

BSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen

2006-2009

Thesis: ”When every pregnancy comes it has its own problems” – a qualitative, explorative study of factors influencing health care seeking practices among pregnant women in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
Grade: 12.