Gitte Moos Knudsen (legal name Karen Birgitte Moos Knudsen) is a Danish translational neurobiologist and clinical neurologist, and Clinical Professor and Chief Physician at the Department of Clinical Medicine, Neurology, Psychiatry and Sensory Sciences, at Copenhagen University Hospital. She graduated from Lyngby Statsskole, just north of Copenhagen, before gaining entrance to medicine, where she received her MD from University of Copenhagen in 1984, and became a Board certified user of radioisotopes in 1986. She sat the FMGEMS exam (Foreign Medical Graduates Examination in the Medical Sciences) (US) in 1989. She became Board certified in neurology in 1994 and received her DMSc (Dr.Med.) from University of Copenhagen in 1994. She currently resides in Copenhagen, and is married to Tore Vulpius. She has 3 children.
Career
Knudsen is one of the leading figures in the neurosciences, assisting various European Union nations to prioritize research and grants. In addition, her research into the brain and its chemistry during depression, Alzheimer's disease, and states induced by drugs such as GHB and ecstasy (MDMA) is at the forefront of world knowledge, and she is a noted scholar in these areas, publishing many papers on each topic. Her interest in brain imaging has led to a deeper understanding of how many receptors act within the brain, and she has produced studies using SPECT, PET, and MRI results to interpret these. A key issue is that the latest brain research not only contributes to increased understanding of brain functions, but is also used to attempt to explain what it means to be human.
CIMBI
The Lundbeck Foundation, created in 1954, donated one of the largest amounts ever given toward the development of medical knowledge, listing a total of DKK 504 million to various institutions in 2011. With a 40 million grant from this program, Knudsen, together with a team of researchers from the Center for Integrated Molecular Imaging of the Brain (CIMBI), University of Copenhagen, are concentrating on investigating the neural bases of personality that predispose individuals to various disorders, using PET and MRI technology. She is currently the Center Director of The Lundbeck Foundation Centre for Integrated Molecular Brain Imaging (CIMBI).
Research focus
Regarding her research, Knudsen states:
I am a translational neurobiologist and clinical neurologist with interest in advanced methodological developments that I subsequently apply in my research to address pertinent neurobiological and clinical issues. My scientific interests have fallen in three sequentially separated categories:
(i) blood–brain barrier transport – which was the basis for my DMSc thesis (1985–1992), (ii) neurobiology of cerebral blood flow and metabolism (1992–2000) and (iii) neurobiology of the neurotransmission with particular emphasis on molecular brain imaging (1998– current). CIMBI focuses on the neural bases of personality dimensions that predispose individuals to e.g., affective and substance use disorders, with special emphasis on the serotonergic neurotransmitter system.
Awards
Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters since 2004. Prize 1994 of the Société de Circulation et Métabolism du Cerveau, France ; Anne Bochardt Prize 1999 awarded by the Medical Society in Copenhagen; William Ottesen & Wife’s Foundation 2008, Denmark; Monrad-Krohn Prize for the Advancement of Neurological Research 2010, Norway; Niels Lassen Prize 2011, Denmark
Previous appointments
Visiting scientist at NIH and at Stony Brook, United States (1985–90), Visiting scientist at Institute of Physiology, Bonn, Germany (1988–89) Visiting scientist at MGH Harvard, Boston (2011–12). Clinical education has predominantly taken place at Rigshospitalet and has been interspersed by a three years appointment as research fellow (1986–1989) at the Dept. of Neurology, and by maternal leave in 1989, 1992, and 1995. Appointed as research professor in Neurobiology and Chief Neurologist at University of Copenhagen in 1999. Professor of Neurology at University of Copenhagen 2005–2006 and of Neurobiology from 2004.
Present appointments
Chief neurologist at Dept Neurology, Rigshospitalet and
Chairperson at the Neurobiology ResearchUnit, Rigshospitalet, and
Director of the Lundbeck Foundation Center for Integrated Molecular Brain Imaging (CIMBI). Professor in Clinical Neurobiology at the University of Copenhagen.