Grant recieved in 2026
DCCC has funded 200.000 DKK to the initiative.
Obesity and metabolic disease have implications throughout the cancer care pathway – from risk and early diagnosis to treatment choices, toxicity, rehabilitation, late effects and prognosis.
The field is developing rapidly, with new European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines, growing knowledge about body composition and new treatment options for obesity. However, knowledge and clinical practice remain unevenly distributed across professional groups and regions.
As a DCCC network, ObeCaRe has since 2020 built a national, multidisciplinary community bringing together oncologists, surgeons, epidemiologists, endocrinologists, molecular biologists, psychologists, nurses, patients, patient organisations and many other professional groups. The DCCC ObeCaRe annual meetings from 2021 to 2026 document a professional development from network building to a mature field of knowledge, with results and recommendations now ready for wider national dissemination.
There is a particular need to translate existing knowledge about:
- New ESMO recommendations on obesity and cancer
- Body composition, metabolic health and prognosis
- Implications for systemic treatment, surgery and rehabilitation
- GLP-1-based weight-loss treatment and cancer
- Social and geographical inequality
- Weight-inclusive, non-stigmatising patient communication
ObeCaRe is establishing a national, multidisciplinary roadshow team of junior and senior researchers from clinical, epidemiological, basic and translational research. The team will visit oncology departments and clinical environments across all five regions and share existing knowledge through short presentations, patient cases and local implementation discussions.
DCCC funding will support the planning and delivery of six regional meetings in collaboration with local cancer communities in Aalborg, Aarhus, Odense, Esbjerg, Næstved/Roskilde and Copenhagen/Herlev.
The initiative connects research and clinical practice by bringing researchers and clinicians together locally to work with specific patient pathways and implementation barriers.
The aim is not to develop new clinical guidelines, but to increase awareness and use of existing knowledge in the field. The initiative is expected to contribute to a shared national knowledge base and support a more consistent, respectful and evidence-based approach to patients with cancer and obesity.
Multidisciplinary organisation
The initiative is anchored in the national, multidisciplinary DCCC ObeCaRe network and will be carried out in collaboration with relevant DMCG groups, universities, hospitals, patients and local cancer professionals hosting the visits.
Project stakeholder
The roadshow team will consist of a core group and rotating subject-matter experts:
- Signe Borgquist, Clinical Professor, Chief Consultant, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (oncology)
- Deirdre Fenton Cronin, Professor, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (epidemiology)
- Jens Meldgaard Bruun, Professor, Consultant, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (endocrinology)
- Pernille Skovlund, Clinical Nursing Specialist, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (oncology)
- Martin Roelsgaard Jakobsen, Professor, Aarhus University (molecular biology)
- Bobby Zachariae, Professor, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (psychology)
- Lærke Skjøth Nissen, PhD student, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (doctor)
- Katrine Sørensen, Vice-Chair, Danish Breast Cancer Organisation (patient representative)
Hosts for ObeCaRe visits
- Louise Lang Lehrskov, Postdoctoral Researcher, Doctor, Rigshospitalet (local host, Copenhagen)
- Susanne Dalton, Professor, Consultant, Zealand University Hospital (local host, Næstved/Roskilde)
- Anders Vistisen, Chief Physician, Aalborg University Hospital (local host, Aalborg)
- Jan Frystyk, Chief Physician, Professor, Odense University Hospital (local host, Odense)
- Claus Bogh Juul, Consultant, Professor, Head of Research, Syddansk Overvægtsinitiativ, Esbjerg and Grindsted Hospital (local host, Esbjerg)
- Zenia Guldbæk-Svensson, MD, Aarhus University/Aarhus University Hospital (local host, Aarhus)
Junior representatives from at least three regions and from both clinical and basic/epidemiological research. These representatives had not been named at the time of application.