New advisors are to strengthen cooperation with industry
Over the coming three years, two businesswomen with research backgrounds will provide researchers and management at Health with advice about business collaboration. And the faculty's two new advisors are not in doubt; Inviting representatives from the life science industry inside the walls of the university is a win-win for both parties.
Does my research have potential and could it become a pharmaceutical product – and where should I start on this process? What can I do to establish relevant ties with the industry in my research or teaching?
From 1 September 2019, you will be able to get qualified sparring on questions like these, when Karina Fog from Lundbeck and Marie Lindegaard from Novo Nordisk take up their positions as external Honorary Advisors to the Faculty. The plan is for the new advisors to become involved in both research and development of teaching as well as in advising the management about the faculty’s business strategy.
"We’ve secured two competent business and research profiles with this formal collaboration. Marie Lindegaard and Karina Fog both have extensive experience as researchers and managers in the business world. They really know about converting research into practice and they bring the two worlds –university and industry – closer together,” says Vice-dean for Talent and External Relations Lise Wogensen Bach.
She has high expectations for the collaboration and is looking forward to hearing the two advisors’ input to the faculty’s deliberations on strengthening its ties with business and the life science industry in particular.
The two advisors are also looking forward to the collaboration.
Stronger together
Marie Lindegaard is Project Vice President at Novo Nordisk. She is already familiar with the faculty after arranging a workshop as part of the research-orientated honours programme.
“The workshop collaboration was fruitful for both us and you. After the course evaluation we know that the students finished the course with a much better sense of the processes involved in the development of pharmaceutical products and of where they could find a career path with their education. On our side, we have gained a valuable insight into what your students can and what they would like to know more about. It was really exciting. And I sense that the students thought so too,” says Marie Lindegaard, and she also compliments the faculty for reaching out and taking the initiative.
"Collaboration is important, and I wish to contribute by e.g. acting as a liaison and sharing my network. I believe that mutual respect and understanding of each other's worlds is the key to the faculty developing an ambitious business strategy, and that this can contribute to maintaining a strong life science sector in Denmark. My goal is for it to seem natural for both Health and us to involve one another in different projects and to collaborate where it makes sense to do so," she says.
Marie Lindegaard would be happy to see the workshop on the research-oriented honours programme, which she and her colleagues will hold again this year, become a regular and integrated part of the honours programme and possibly even an independent elective subject, so that it could be offered to more students.
Converting research into practice
The other advisor, Karina Fog, is Director at Lundbeck and has collaborated with researchers from Health for many years. Her primary research field is the treatment of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
"Interacting with people who are passionate about their research gives me good energy. I also get a lot of professional satisfaction from helping to convert research into something that benefits patients. It’s meaningful,” she says.
She hopes that her new role as advisor for the faculty will give her the opportunity to get involved in scientific discussions and discussions about how research can be brought into play in connection with business and industry.
"For many years, it has been part of my job at Lundbeck to talk to biotech companies about their research with a view to potential cooperation. So, one way in which I can help researchers at Health is to assess whether their research has potential – for example whether an idea can be developed into a pharmaceutical product," says Karina Fog.
Researchers who wish to make use of the new advisors should contact Vice-dean Lise Wogensen Bach. The vice-dean also interjects that the faculty would be happy to receive more nominations of candidates who could become an Honorary Advisor to the Faculty.
"The faculty wishes to affiliate more external advisors and we’d also like to see candidates from abroad," she says.
Researchers and management at Health can nominate candidates on an ongoing basis by contacting Advisor Lene Bøgh Sørensen at lbs@au.dk. Nominations are discussed in the faculty’s Business Forum, which will meet again on 28 October 2019.
Read more about the role of the new Honorary Advisors in the article ”The faculty is looking for Honorary Advisors from the private sector”
See the video interview with Marie Lindegaard and read about the workshop that she arranged in the article ”Novo Nordisk visit the research-orientated honours programme”
Contact
Vice-dean for Talent and External Relations Lise Wogensen Bach
Aarhus University, Health
Mobile: (+45) 25 48 85 22
Email: lwb@au.dk