Rebecca Vinding
MD, PhD
Rebecca leads the Growth and Psychopathology group at COPSAC, where she also supervises several PhD students.
Her research concentrates on growth, adiposity, and metabolism during childhood and puberty, with a particular focus on early life factors, including prenatal interventions in the COPSAC2010 cohort. In recent years, her work has increasingly explored the interaction between adiposity and mental health in children.
Rebecca earned her medical degree from the University of Copenhagen in 2011 and is set to complete her specialization in pediatrics by March 2025.
She was a PhD student at COPSAC and Paediatric Department at Næstved Hospital from 2013 to 2017. She successfully defended her PhD thesis, titled “Early Life Exposures and Childhood Growth,” in January 2018.
Rebecca completed a one-year unclassified position at Hillerød Hospital’s children’s ward following her PhD, where she was actively involved in examining and treating pediatric obesity patients.
Subsequently, she held a 5-month postdoctoral position at COPSAC, where she coordinated the extensive 10-year COPSYCH assessment visit for the COPSAC2010 cohort.
This project was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Neuropsychiatric Schizophrenia Research (CNSR) and involved comprehensive evaluations of children’s cognitive functions, mental health, and structural brain imaging using MRI.
Since 2019, Rebecca has divided her time between clinical practice and research, working 80% as a clinician during her pediatric specialization and 20% as a senior researcher at COPSAC.
Rebecca is currently an associated member of the Adiposity Committees under the Danish Paediatric Society where she also served as a member from 2018 to 2024.
