PhD Student in Childhood Cancer Epidemiology (Linear Growth and BMI)
100 %

Supervisors: Dr. Fabiën Belle and Prof. Dr. med. Claudia Kühni
Place: ISPM University of Bern, Switzerland

The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) of Bern performs research in a range of disciplines relevant to public health (www.ispm.unibe.ch). Groups cut across divisions, facilitating an interdisciplinary approach to research in the fields of clinical epidemiology, social and behavioral health, biostatistics, and international and environmental health. The ISPM is highly reputed for its expertise in the health of vulnerable groups including children.
The Child and Adolescent Health Group, headed by Prof. Dr. med. Claudia Kuehni, conducts population-based and clinical studies in child health and Dr. Fabiën Belle focuses on nutritional intake and status among childhood cancer patients and survivors.

Weight loss, excessive weight gain, slow growth, and short adult height are common problems during and after childhood cancer treatment which may indicate poor nutritional status. During cancer treatment, children with poor nutritional status suffer more complications and have worse prognoses than children with good nutritional status. Poor nutritional status after treatment can lead to lower quality of life and serious persistent health problems such as diabetes and heart diseases. Yet among childhood cancer patients and survivors we do not well know how nutritional status is affected over time and who suffers the most. In this PhD project you will set up a retrospective cohort to investigate linear growth and body mass index (BMI). You will maximize the potential of routine health data from hospitals, the national Childhood Cancer Registry (www.childhoodcancerregistry.ch), birth statistics, and the Swiss Childhood Cancer Survivor Study (SCCSS, www.swiss-ccss.ch) to model linear growth and BMI trajectories in childhood cancer patients and survivors with repeated measurements from birth through adulthood. As part of the International Guideline Harmonization Group (IGHG) you will coordinate the guideline development for overweight and obesity surveillance (www.ighg.org). In your PhD you will deal with large national datasets to leverage routine health data to model BMI and growth trajectories in childhood cancer survivors over four decades.

You will be part of a dynamic and multidisciplinary team and work closely with clinicians, epidemiologists, data managers, and other PhD students. You will gain an in-depth understanding of epidemiological and biostatistical techniques, expand your (inter)national network, present your results at (inter)national conferences, and publish in peer-reviewed journals.