Prof.
Mary Relling will receive Rigshospitalet's international KFJ Award on
11 November 2014 for her work to improve treatment for children
suffering from leukaemia using customised medication, which has been
Prof. Relling's primary research area for many years.
- This
award is a great honour for our team at St. Jude Children’s Research
Hospital, and sharing the award with Prof. Kjeld Schmiegelow and his
colleagues from Rigshospitalet makes it even more special. We have known
each other for many years, and I believe that we share many of the same
scientific and clinical goals. My team and I have been working with
Prof. Schmiegelow and his team for some time to improve international
cooperation within genetic studies of acute lymphatic leukaemia, and I
hope that this award will strengthen our cooperation, and that it will
help form new working relationships with more research groups in Europe
and in the rest of the world, said Prof. Relling.
Video interview
Obvious winner
Prof.
Kjeld Schmiegelow, consultant at the Department of Paediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine at Rigshospitalet, explains why he has nominated
Prof. Relling for the KFJ Award.
- It was obvious to me to point
at Prof. Relling, because she is at the forefront in some of the areas
we want to focus on in our research within childhood cancer. During her
career, Prof. Relling has focussed on drug metabolism, including
customised medication, side effects and on why children get leukaemia. I
also believe that Prof. Relling agreed to cooperate with us because she
is well aware that together we will be able to achieve far more than we
ever could alone. Therefore, I'm very pleased that the panel of judges
has chosen her, and thereby us, because our research supplements each
other so well, explained Prof. Kjeld Schmiegelow.
Impressive publication profile
This
is the fourth year in a row that the KFJ Award has been presented to a
high-profile cooperation partner, and according to Jannik Hilsted, Chief
Medical Officer at Rigshospitalet, this year the award is again being
given to a very relevant researcher profile.
- Prof. Mary
Relling is highly qualified academically, with a very impressive
publication profile and an h-index of 76. We're certain that closer
cooperation is of great importance to future development work within
paediatric oncology at Rigshospitalet and in Denmark. We look forward to
the continued close cooperation between Rigshospitalet, and Prof. Mary
Relling and her research centre, said Jannik Hilsted, Chief Medical
Officer and member of the panel of judges.
More specifically,
future cooperation between St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and
Rigshospitalet means that Prof. Mary Relling will visit Rigshospitalet
twice a year, and a joint annual symposium will be organised. In
addition, the two hospitals will have joint scholarships, PhD students
and research protocols within childhood cancer.
About Rigshospitalet’s international KFJ Award
The
award is presented every year to a highly profiled international
cooperation partner. The DKK 1.5 million award has been donated by the
Kirsten and Freddy Johansen Foundation. DKK 1.25 million must be spent
directly on research, whereas award winners can spend the remaining DKK
250,000 as they themselves see fit.