Dominik Linz will be new professor at BMI

Dominik Linz was awarded a DKK 25 million Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) Young Investigator Award in 2021 for the project “Arrhythmia mechanism-tailored assessment of sleep-disordered breathing in atrial fibrillation”. He is now joining BMI to establish a research group focusing on the investigation of the mechanisms underlying atrial fibrillation (AF) in sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The objective is to develop and validate a mechanism-driven assessment of SDB for a personalised guidance of SDB treatment in patients suffering from AF.

Dominik Linz is MD and he obtained his PhD in 2013 from Maastricht University, The Netherlands. After completing his Cardiology training in Germany, he started working as a clinical fellow for electrophysiology in Adelaide, Australia, and was promoted to Associate Professor of The University of Adelaide in 2018. Currently, he is Clinician Scientist at the Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM) and Cardiologist/Electrophysiologist Consultant at Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+), The Netherlands. In 2020, the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH appointed Dominik Linz as Affiliate Professor of ‘Lifestyle Factors in Cardiac Arrhythmia’. With his prestigious grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Dominik is now recruited for a full Professor position at BMI. Dominik will remain affiliated with the Maastricht University Medical Center (MUMC+) to maintain his work as a Cardiologist/Electrophysiologist.

As a Cardiologist/Electrophysiologist and Clinical Scientist Dominik is conducting translational research. His research focuses on understanding the pathophysiology and mechanisms underlying atrial arrhythmias, the interaction with concomitant lifestyle factors and the development and implementation of new treatment and management approaches. This research has broadly included work describing SDB-associated electrophysiological changes in the atria, increasing AF susceptibility antiarrhythmic effects of autonomic modulation by different interventions.

“During the last years, I have been involved in several ongoing and new research projects at BMI. Thereby, I got to know the excellent infrastructure of UCPH and collaborated closely with the group of the Cardiac Physiology Lab. I am very enthusiastic to use the Novo Nordisk Foundation Young Investigator Award to establish my new and comprehensive research program on lifestyle factors in cardiac arrhythmias in Copenhagen.” says Dominik Linz.

Head of Department Cathrine Ørskov looks forward to welcoming Dominik Linz to the Department and says, “Dominik is internationally renowned within the field of cardiac arrhythmia research and I am really thrilled that he has chosen to establish his research group here in Copenhagen. I have no doubt that Dominik will strengthen the Cardiology research at our Department and our ability to translate basic research results to new approaches for preventing, diagnosing and treating cardiac diseases.”

Dominik will join the research in the research theme “Physiology of Circulation, Kidney and Lung” and he will have his lab space at 12.5 where he will collaborate closely with Professor Thomas Jespersen as well as other BMI researchers.