Christian Holm Steenkjær obtained his MD from Aarhus University in 2020. While completing his PhD through NAD, he has been granted leave from a specialist training position in neurology at Aalborg University Hospital. Christian has experience in working with patients suffering from a variety of neurodegenerative diseases.
Christian is a clinician at heart, and he is motivated to do research that contributes to treatment for neurodegenerative diseases: ”We are moving towards more knowledge about what actually happens in the brain and in the nervous system – knowledge that leads towards finding effective treatment options in the future.”
While research within neurodegenerative diseases in many cases does not contribute to direct treatment options, Christian points out that a deeper understanding of diseases that lack effective treatment can also contribute to the development of tools for a more precise and timelier diagnosis – and better patient communication. Christian emphasises that a strong research background is very important for a doctor in this regard:
“In these cases, the explanation [of the diagnosis] is an important part of the treatment as we do not have a lot of treatment options yet. (…) The bridge from basic research [to the clinical perspective] is key in explaining to the patient where we are in research and why we know whether a particular treatment works or does not work.”
Christian describes NAD as a “think tank” uniting Danish neuroscience and gathering resources and knowledge from the different universities and university hospitals. He especially highlights the lab rotations during the pre-PhD year as a great way of exchanging knowledge:
“Why not send someone out to the different universities in order to contribute with something from where they come from, but also bring something new to where they will do their PhD [project]. I think it is a genius idea.”