On Tuesday 8 February, the Minister of Health and Care Services Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen opened four new K.G. Jebsen centres for medical research. During the opening, which took place at Litteraturhuset in Oslo, Ms Strøm-Erichsen said: (translated from Norwegian)

‘Each of the new centres that we are opening today will receive NOK 4 million each for four years. This is a fantastic contribution to new research that will build bridges between basic research at the universities and the clinical reality at the health enterprises – what the experts call translational research.’  (.....)
‘The foundation’s contribution is one of many examples of private funding of Norwegian research. It is easy to imagine that this might lead to a shift in the research effort, but this is not the case for the four new centres.
The selection of the four centres has been made on the basis of the research communities themselves prioritising discipline areas and research communities, and recommending applications for evaluation.
The researchers are otherwise free to select topics. The foundation has wished to give priority to translational research, an area in which they believe the need for knowledge is greatest and in which there are gaps in the knowledge base. The Ministry of Health and Care Services has also highlighted this type of research as an important priority area for strengthening clinical research.
It is the foundation’s wish that raising the quality of research will lead to increased quality in the performance of health services. This is also my wish!’

The four new centres are:

• K.G. Jebsen Centre for Breast Cancer Research, led by Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale, the University of Oslo
• K.G. Jebsen Centre for Research on Neuropsychiatric Disorders, led by Jan Haavik, the University of Bergen
• K.G. Jebsen Cardiac Research Centre, led by Finn Olav Levy, the University of Oslo
• K.G. Jebsen Center of Exercise in Medicine, led by Ulrik Wisløff, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Anne Grete Strøm-Erichsen presented plaques to the heads of the centres

From left: Ulrik Wisløff, Finn Olav Levy, Aud Jebsen, Hans Peter
Jebsen, Anne-Lise Børresen-Dale and Jan Haavik