Thomas Sinkjær R (born 1958) is a Danish scientist and professor of

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

and technology at the Department of Health Science and Technology of

Aalborg University Aalborg University (AAU) is a Danish public university with campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg, and Copenhagen founded in 1974. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD degrees in a wide variety of subjects within humanities ...

, Denmark. He is the

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

of the

Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters {{Infobox organization , name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters , full_name = , native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab , native_name_lang = , logo = Royal ...

and an elected fellow of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences.

Education

Sinkjær has a degree in electronic and medical engineering from Aalborg University (1983) where he also completed his PhD in a joint venture with

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

, Canada (1988). Sinkjær has a doctorate in Medicine (DMSc) from

Copenhagen University The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...

(1998).

Career

Sinkjær was

post-doctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, Chicago, from 1989 to 1990. Following this post, he returned to Denmark, where he has been a professor at Aalborg University since 1993. From 1993 to 2006, he was the director of the Danish National Research Foundations Center for Sensory- Motor Interaction (SMI) at Aalborg University. From 2007 to 2015, Sinkjær was director of the Danish National Research Foundation. He has been director of science of the

Villum Foundation The Villum Foundation ( da, Villum Fonden); formerly Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation (''Villum Kann Rasmussen Fonden'') was set up in 1971 by civil engineer Villum Kann Rasmussen (1909–1993). 10 years later, he set up the Velux Foundation (''Vel ...

from 2015 to 2017. From 2018 to 2019 he was the vice-president of the Lundbeck Foundation, additionally managing the foundation's talent programme from 2019 to 2021. In addition to the already mentioned, Sinkjær has held positions in several other boards and organizations. Positions include president of International Society for Functional Electrical Stimulation (IFESS), panel chair of the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

(ERC)'s Advanced Grant Panel, member of the scientific selection committee under the

Research Council of Norway The Research Council (also the Research Council of Norway; no, Norges forskningsråd) is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and innovation projects. On behalf of the Government, the Research Council invests NOK 11,9 billion (2021) ...

, and member of the Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science's Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy (from 2017 to 2023). Since 2020, Sinkjær has been a member of the presidium of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, of which he was elected

in 2021. Since 2021, he has been a board member of the Elsass Foundation, where he is also head of committee for the Elsass Foundation Research Prize. Sinkjær is chairman of the boards of Bevica Fonden and Bevica Innovation, and the Danish national Siemens Foundation (part of the Global Alliance of Siemens Foundations).

Awards and honors (selected)

* 1996: Villum Kann Rasmussen’s Annual Grant * 2002: Medico-Award, Danish Medical Device Industry for outstanding research within Biomedical Engineering * 2004: International Steven Hoogendijk Award in Medical Engineering * 2004: The Research Award of Vanførefonden * 2010: Mathilde and Jeppe Juhl's Memorial Scholarship * 2015:

Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

, Denmark

Selected works

Thomas Sinkjær has contributed more than 200 scientific papers, reviews, and book chapters. Five of his most cited papers are: * Dietz, Volker; Sinkjaer, Thomas (2007-08). "Spastic movement disorder: impaired reflex function and altered muscle mechanics". ''The Lancet Neurology''. 6 (8): 725–733. doi:10.1016/S1474-4422(07)70193-X (open access). * Sinkjaer, T.; Toft, E.; Andreassen, S.; Hornemann, B. C. (1988-09-01). "Muscle stiffness in human ankle dorsiflexors: intrinsic and reflex components". ''Journal of Neurophysiology''. 60 (3): 1110–1121. doi:10.1152/jn.1988.60.3.1110 (open access). * Sinkjær, T.; Magnussen, I. (1994). "Passive, intrinsic and reflex-mediated stiffness in the ankle extensors of hemiparetic patients". ''Brain''. 117 (2): 355–363. doi:10.1093/brain/117.2.355 (subscription). * Sinkjær, T.; Andersen, J. B.; Ladouceur, M.; Christensen, L. O. D.; Nielsen, J. B. (2000-03). "Major role for sensory feedback in soleus EMG activity in the stance phase of walking in man". ''The Journal of Physiology''. 523 (3): 817–827. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7793.2000.00817.x (open access). * Lyons, G.M.; Sinkjaer, T.; Burridge, J.H.; Wilcox, D.J. (2002-12). "A review of portable FES-based neural orthoses for the correction of drop foot". ''IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering''. 10 (4): 260–279. doi:10.1109/TNSRE.2002.806832 (open access).

References

External links

Profile at Aalborg University
{{Authority Control, qid=Q29644761 Neurophysiology Electrophysiology Neuroprosthetics Health_informatics Biomedical_engineering Danish_medical_researchers Danish_scientists