Editorial, Annual report 2019

Oslo Diabetes Research Centre is committed to diabetes research that will improve the lives of all people living with diabetes and help prevent new cases of the disease. Our aim is to make a significant contribution to knowledge about aetiology, pathogenesis, treatment and prevention of diabetes through basic and applied research, and to apply this knowledge to the benefit of the population. An important mission is also to promote the next generation of leading diabetes researchers.

We are a non-profit, medical scientific association, founded in 1990, which unite most of the diabetes research in the Oslo area. Our centre is closely affiliated with the University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. We seek public and private funding to our research, and are supported by the Aker and Ullevål Diabetes Research Fund.

During 2019, our researchers published more than 110 research papers in international scientific journals, within a wide range of topics, from basal, clinical, epidemiological and translational research. More than 50 ongoing research projects are currently running, and are presented on our homepage. Seven PhD students defended their theses during the year 2019: Gunn-Helen Øiseth Moen, Kristine Bech Holte, Nilam Shakeel, Simen W. Schive, Paz Lopez-Doriga Ruiz, Marit Elizabeth von Düring and Ole Elvebakk. We congratulate the candidates and their supervisors with this great achievement! We are pleased and proud that many of them continue with diabetes research, two of them as post docs abroad, in internationally highly recognized research groups.

Many of our researchers have leading roles in national and international diabetes organizations and participate with invited lectures and as members of boards, steering committees and guideline-committees. Following the introduction of new glucose sensors, smart insulin pumps and new and effective medication for type 2 diabetes, guideline-development is quick, and the clinical approach to diabetes treatment is rapidly changing. We therefore consider it of the utmost importance to take part in these processes both nationally and internationally, to the benefit of our patients.

This is my first year as chair of the steering committee of Oslo Diabetes Research Centre, and I want to take the opportunity to convey our greatest acknowledgements to Knut Dahl-Jørgensen, who served as a chair for many years and has been so important for our centre since its start in 1990. Thank you Knut – the centre has had a formidable development during these years, which would not have taken place without your strong dedication and hard work!

We re-organized our organization somewhat this year, elected a steering committee and the chair for a three-year term, and decided to organize our research in projects with Primary Investigators who relate to their Research Groups at the different institutions where they have their main affiliations. We also refreshed our homepage https://www.oslodiabetes.no/ and hope you will use this actively to follow our activities.

We want to thank and acknowledge all our collaborators in Norway and internationally, our sponsors and in particular, we value the close collaboration with the patient organization the Norwegian Diabetes Association.

Kåre I. Birkeland
Professor
Chair of the steering committee

The picture on the front page is from the Graphical Abstract: Higher frequency of hopitaliztion but lower relative mortality for pandemic influenza in people with type 2 diabetes, PLD Ruiz et al., J Intern Med, January 2020.