Prestigious EJP RD ERN Research Mobility Fellowship awarded to Eva Coopmans and Oana Danila

Long have we awaited the moment that we could welcome international students at the LUMC again. Due to COVID, all student mobility was cancelled for over 1,5 years. And despite still having regulations in place, especially during the first semester of the academic year 2021-2022, it was refreshing to cautiously welcome international students again. We’re so pleased to see that the students who came to Leiden had a fun, meaningful and above all, educational experience. In a questionnaire, they’ve given us an insight into how they experienced student mobility during these strange times.

Twice a year, the Research Mobility Fellowships of the European Joint Programme on Rare Diseases (EJP RD) from the European Reference Networks (ERN) get awarded to prominent researchers or MDs to develop new skills and expertise in a European institution specialized in research on rare diseases.

Eva Coopmans, medical doctor and postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Endocrine Tumors Leiden (Centrum voor Endocriene Tumoren Leiden), supervised by Prof. A.M. Pereira Arias and Prof. N.R. Biermasz, has been awarded the EJP RD – ERN fellowship for a pilot study ‘GH-secreting pituitary tumours: nip therapy resistance in the bud’. This fellowship will allow her to research the role of AIP and GNAS mutations in treatments with somatostatin analogues in vivo at the William Harvey Research Institute (WHRI), Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), under supervision of Prof. Korbonits, one of the world’s leading figures in the area of rare hereditary pituitary gland tumors.

Oana Danila is an endocrinologist in training from the National Institute for Endocrinology, C.I. Parhon, in Bucharest, Romania. She was awarded the EJP RD – ERN fellowship for a case control study called ‘The influence of Growth Hormone excess secretion on the evolution of Fibrous Dysplasia in patients with McCune Albright Syndrome’. This fellowships will enable her to research the role of growth hormone secretion in fibrous dysplasia in patients suffering from McCune Albright syndrome. She will also be able to gain clinical experience with this cohort in the LUMC under the supervision of Dr. Appelman-Dijkstra, one of the leading experts in metabolic bone diseases.

For more information on the EJP RD Research Mobility Fellowships and financing possibilities, please check: https://www.ejprarediseases.org/our-actions-and-services/funding-opportunities/funded-projects/ern-trainings-2/  

The EJP RD initiative received financial support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, grant agreement N˚825575. The LUMC/Endo-ERN is partner of the EJP RD.

On May 30th, international experts and politicians gathered in Leiden to discuss global health issues during the Global Impact in Health Symposium. Lively discussions were held on matters concerning equal worldwide access to vaccines and diversity within clinical research. New scientific insights were also shared, including on vaccine response differences between African and European populations. Missed the event? Check out the after movie and get in touch!