Research areas

Carsten Dirksen is a Danish endocrinologist and chief physician at Department of Pulmonary Diseases and Endocrinology at Copenhagen University Hospital – Hvidovre. He is founder of the hospital’s clinic for Obesity and Nutrition that is the largest public center for bariatric surgery in eastern Denmark and also offers specialised non-surgical obesity management.

Carsten Dirksen is also a clinical research associate professor at Department of Clinical Medicine at the University of Copenhagen with more than 15 years of experience in clinical research within the fields of obesity, metabolism, and diabetes including several important papers on the mechanisms behind the efficacy of bariatric surgery. He is a key member of the CAG SHIFT that joins clinical and academic researchers in the Capital Region of Denmark to provide sustainable health improvements following obesity treatment.

Carsten Dirksen is currently the chief investigator of the Lighthouse Consortium on Obesity Management (LightCOM), which is a strategic international research consortium that includes research groups from Denmark and the United Kingdom and is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The aim of the LightCOM project is to develop and test novel obesity management programmes in a series of clinical trials.

Main research areas

Primary research fields are obesity and metabolism.

The current topics are:

• Bariatric surgery:
  • Physiological and metabolic effects (gut hormones, gastrointestinal motility, bile acid metabolism)
  • Complications (post-bariatric hypoglycemia, neuropathy)
  • Quality of life
• Clinical management of obesity:
  • Weight loss treatments in patients with multimorbidity
  • Weight loss treatments in hypothalamic obesity
  • Surgical vs. non-surgical weight loss treatments
  • Intensive non-surgical weight loss interventions
  • Weight neutral interventions

Current research

The Lighthouse Consortium on Obesity Management (LightCOM) is a strategic international research consortium that includes research groups from Denmark and the United Kingdom and is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The aim of the LightCOM project is to develop and test novel obesity management programmes in a series of clinical trials. The LightCOM project includes:

• LightCARE: NCT06321432
• LightWAY: NCT06321458
• LightBAR: NCT06309238

Other research projects include:

• The HypoBAR trial (EudraCT Number: 2022-000157-87) which investigates canagliflozin and acarbose for the treatment of PBH.
• The NovaBAR study that investigates the prevalence of neuropathy after bariatric surgery.
• The FIT-HF trial that investigates the effect and risks of intensive weight loss in patients with hearth failure, including treatments with total dietary replacement and semaglutide.

Potential conflicts of interest

Carsten Dirksen has research funding from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, including being the main applicant and chief investigator for the Lighthouse Consortium on Obesity Management (LightCOM) research project (NNF22SA0080921).

Carsten Dirksen has research collaboration with NUPO Aps, SENS Innovation Aps, Abbott GmbH and Dexcom International Limited.

Carsten Dirksen is an investigator on clinical trials conducted on behalf of Novo Nordisk A/S (sub-investigator) and Amgen AB (primary investigator).

Carsten Dirksen is a Endpoint-adjudication-committee member for the LUCIDITY trial conducted by Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Carsten Dirksen has within the last 3 years served as consultant for Novo Nordisk Denmark A/S, and as lecturer and/or chairperson at meetings organized by Novo Nordisk A/S, Novo Nordisk Denmark A/S, Novo Nordisk France, AstraZeneca A/S, Eli Lilly Danmark A/S, and has for this work received personal fees from Novo Nordisk Denmark A/S and AstraZeneca A/S. I the same periode, Carsten Dirksen has received support for attending meetings from Novo Nordisk Denmark A/S.