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Research unit of OPEN - Open Patient data Explorative Network

Award

Professor Christine Stabell Benn has been awarded the George Macdonald Medal

The medal is awarded by The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, for outstanding research leading to improvement of health in the tropics.

Professor at Department of Clinical Research (OPEN), Christine Stabell Benn has been awarded the George Macdonald Medal for outstanding research leading to improvement of health in the tropics. The medal is awarded every third year.

Previous medal winners include Donald A. Henderson, who led the international efforts to eradicate smallpox, and Tore Godal, one of the most influential health physicians of all time.

Has changed the understanding of vaccines effects

Christine Stabell Benn's research has helped to document that vaccines and vitamins affect the immune system in a much more general way than previously thought; both types of intervention have what has now been coined “non-specific effects”.

Christine Stabell Benn has been a leader in showing how the different health interventions can interact with each other, often in a manner that leads to different effects in the two biological sexes. This means, among other things, that the sequence and combination of health interventions is more important than previously thought.

- I am very happy and honoured to be awarded the George Macdonald Medal. There are many assumptions about which interventions work in low- and middle-income countries and many assumptions about how the interventions work. My group has made it a top priority to challenge these assumptions in global health, by assessing the overall health effects of interventions in real life settings. The medal is a great encouragement to continue this line of curiosity-driven research, says Christine Stabell Benn.

Professor Christine Stabell Benn & Simon Bush, President of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Meet the researcher

Professor Christine Stabell Benn is an MD, PhD, and Doctor of Medical Science. She has worked at the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau since 1993. Since 2013 she has been a Professor in Global Health at the University of Southern Denmark. She has published more than 330 scientific articles. Christine Stabell Benn is affiliated with OPEN, Department of Clinical Research and Danish Institute for Advanced Study (DIAS).

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The George Macdonald Medal

The George Macdonald Medal was first awarded in 1972 in honour of Dr George Macdonald, Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

A dominant figure in the field of global health and one of the world's great authorities of malariology, George Macdonald distinguished himself by his work on vector-borne tropical diseases. His personality combined great intellectual power, fearless integrity, tremendous energy and an understanding of human problems.

Learn more about the George Macdonald Medal

The George Macdonald Medal
Editing was completed: 29.09.2023