Course leader presentation: Merete Drevvatne Bugge

Chemical Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease
27th – 29th of April 2021, Online course

What is your background?

I am working as a senior physician at the Norwegian Institute of Occupational Health (STAMI). My research is in epidemiology, with a focus on workers in Norwegian smelter plants. Traditionally, the concern regarding these workers has been on lung diseases such as lung cancer and COPD. In later years I have also been investigating the relation between particle exposure and cardiovascular disease in the same worker group.

Why do you think chemical exposure and cardiovascular disease is an important and current issue to discuss in 2021?

When I started working on my project regarding particle exposure and risk of cardiovascular disease, I struggled to find relevant information, and I really missed a course on chemicals and CVD in an occupational setting. This is a largely unexplored field of research, and the issue is very complex. My aim with this course is to combine pieces of knowledge from different research areas, so we can learn from each other, and thus understand more.

What would you like to say to the participants of the course?

The field of cardiovascular disease due to chemical exposure is complex. In order to understand more, we need to combine information from epidemiology and toxicology, from studies of the general population and worker groups, from studies of historical cohorts and field experiments, and many more. We also need to increase our understanding of the relationship between short-term effects on biomarkers and long-term outcomes of cardiovascular disease.

I hope that all participants will receive additional information, filling potential knowledge gaps, whether this theme is new to them or they already have been working with some of the aspects before.

Also, I aim to create a setting in which the participants can contribute with their knowledge to a common whole.

More information: Course web page
Registration: Course registration
Last registration date: April 9th 2021