Honorary membership award to Per Magnus
News
|Published
Professor and Centre Director Per Magnus has been awarded an honorary membership of the Norwegian Epidemiological Association.
This news article is older than 30 days and the information may be outdated
Go to the home pageThe honorary membership was announced at the annual conference of the Norwegian Epidemiological Association on Wednesday November 13, 2019. Per Magnus is bestowed the honorary membership for his important contribution to epidemiological research in Norway over many years.
Per Magnus was born in 1951. He graduated with a MD in 1976, and in 1985 he became a specialist in medical genetics and obtained a PhD at the Institute of Medical Genetics, University of Oslo. He was commissioned by the Norwegian Research Council to visit epidemiological research environments in other countries, and propose how epidemiology should be developed in Norway. Since then, he has been one of the foremost leaders in Norwegian epidemiology.
Already in the 1980’s he was central to the development of epidemiological research related to the HIV / AIDS epidemic, perinatal epidemiology, genetic epidemiology and other health disciplines. In the 1990s, he was one of the founders of the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), and has been its principal investigator for the past twenty years. Per Magnus was also instrumental in establishing the Norwegian Epidemiological Association in the early 1990s and served as its first chair from 1990 to 1993. He has also been chair of the steering committee for Cohort of Norway (CONOR), and has led and helped build up Norwegian epidemiological research through his long-standing leadership of the Section for Epidemiology and later Division of Epidemiology at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. He was, and still is, central to the development of biobank infrastructure in Norway and the establishment of HARVEST - a large Norwegian genetics consortium.
Per Magnus has played a pivotal role in developing collaborations between clinical, basic and epidemiological research environments. He has a large and broad international network of contacts and has had a long-standing role in enhancing the role of Norwegian epidemiology internationally. He has helped establish several large international consortia; in particular within MoBa and CONOR. His persistent efforts in taking initiatives for and completing grant applications have provided extensive funding for major epidemiological studies in Norway.
Per Magnus has an impressive track record of more than 450 scientific articles. He has outstanding analytical skills and is an excellent writer. He is creative, curious and open, and has a unique ability to inspire and drive innovative research with high quality. He has recruited and trained many of today's epidemiologists in basic epidemiology and advanced methods in clinical epidemiology, and has supervised more than 25 PhD candidates.
Per Magnus currently heads a Center of Excellence (SFF), the Center for Fertility and Health, hosted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, where he is leading a multidisciplinary team of researchers in epidemiology, medicine, demography, genetics, statistics and economics.
