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Fundamentals of register-based pharmacoepidemiology
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3562-25-00-00There are 7 available seats 
Enrollment deadline: 01/10/2025
Date and time03.11.2025, at: 08:00 - 07.11.2025, at: 16:00
Regular seats15
Course fee10,080.00 kr.
Lecturersmaurizio sessa
ECTS credits3.70
Contact personMarianne W. Jørgensen    E-mail address: marianne.joergensen@sund.ku.dk
Enrolment Handling/Course OrganiserPhD administration     E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content

This course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD Students from NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee.

Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. This also applies to PhD students from NorDoc member faculties. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.


Long Course title

Fundamentals of register-based pharmacoepidemiology: evidence synthesis, data sources, and study design.


Learning objectives

A student who has met the objectives of the course will be able to:

1. Search, evaluate, and organize available evidence on a research topic objective of a register-based study.

2. Identify registers available in Denmark relevant for pharmacoepidemiological research.

3. Recognize Danish laws and regulations on register-based data.

4. Plan and design a pharmacoepidemiological study using register-based data.

5. Define exposures, outcomes, and auxiliary variables in register-based data.

6. Perform basic data management procedures on simulated registers-based data.


Content

The students are expected to obtain an epidemiologic competence which makes them able to contribute to planning and carrying out epidemiological studies based on register data. In particular, the course will provide knowledge and skills on four key aspects of register-based research:

1) evidence synthesis,

2) selection of data sources,

3) plan of a pharmacoepidemiological study and

4) data management.

Evidence synthesis is a key part of register-based research as it guarantees a transparent and reproducible report of available evidence on the research topic under investigation. The participants will learn how to develop structured and reproducible search strategies to retrieve available evidence on their research topic. Additionally, they will learn how to evaluate and process search results. In the second part of the course, participants will learn which data sources are available in Denmark to conduct register-based research. A wide range of national and regional data sources available on drug dispensing, biomarkers, health outcomes, and socioeconomic status will be presented and so will the processes when linking data from various sources. Additionally, the participants will have the possibility of learning the basic principles of pharmacoepidemiological study design, and data management of register data using simulated datasets. In particular, the participants will be trained to develop part of a study protocol with a focus on the choice of available study design and operationalization of epidemiological concepts in algorithms for defining exposures, outcomes, and auxiliary variables in Danish register data.


Participants

The maximum number of participants is 20. The course is open for PhD students and junior researchers. Students from outside the Nordic countries can also apply. All applicants must have basic and documented skills in using statistical software (SAS, Stata, Python, or R) for data management, and have - at a minimum - basic level knowledge in epidemiology.


Relevance to graduate programmes

The course is relevant to PhD students from the following graduate programmes at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences, UCPH:

Pharmaceutical Sciences (Drug Research Academy)

Public Health and Epidemiology

Biostatistics and Bioinformatics



Language

The course will be in English

Form

The course will include lectures, group work, and exercise classes. It is compulsory to participate in individual work and group work. Any absence will have to be compensated by extra individual assignments outside the course periods and provided by the course organizers. The examination will be performed as an oral and written presentation of group work. Additionally, each student will be assessed individually.


Course director

Associate Prof. Maurizio Sessa (co-director), Pharmacovigilance Research Center, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen - maurizio.sessa@sund.ku.dk

Prof. Morten Andersen (co-director), Pharmacovigilance Research Center, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen - morten.andersen@sund.ku.dk


Teachers

Associate Prof. Maurizio Sessa MPharm, PhD, Pharmacovigilance Research Center, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen - maurizio.sessa@sund.ku.dk

Prof. Morten Andersen, Pharmacovigilance Research Center, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen - morten.andersen@sund.ku.dk

Mikkel Porsborg Andersen, MScPH, PhD, Department of Clinical Research, Nordsjaellands Hospital - mikkel.porsborg.andersen@regionh.dk

Professor Anders Hviid, Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen and Statens Serum Institut - aii@ssi.dk


Dates

3-7 November 2025


Course location

TBA, PharmaSchool, Universitetsparken 2/Jagtvej 160, 2100 Copenhagen


Registration

Please register before 1 October 2025


Expected frequency

Every second year


Seats to PhD students from other Danish universities will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules. Applications from other participants will be considered after the last day of enrolment.


Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor.

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