As of September 1, 2024, DDSA has a new Managing Director, Marie Helene Andersson. She brings extensive knowledge in data science and strategic leadership. As the Corporate Principal Data Partner at LEO Pharma, she has driven the pharmaceutical company’s strategic agenda in data and AI over the past few years. She will now use this experience in the continued development of the Danish Data Science Academy, DDSA.
As a national academy for data science, DDSA works to unite and strengthen the many stakeholders within the academic environment, hospitals, and businesses, including establishing various forms of collaborations and co-funding activities. Simultaneously, the academy supports the education and training of new generations of data science experts to create a unique data science environment in Denmark that will compete internationally and attract talent.
“I am excited to lead DDSA and to grow the awareness about data science in Denmark. Together with the fantastic team, I look forward to anchoring and expanding the academy’s activities, and not least to meet participants from the entire Danish data science community,” says Marie Helene Andersson.
There will be ample opportunity for this already in October when DDSA, together with the Pioneer Centre for AI (P1) and Digital Research Centre Denmark (DIREC), gathers 500 participants in Nyborg for the D3A conference (Danish Digitalization, Data Science, and AI) to share the latest knowledge in data science. DDSA is also a broadly anchored organization with more than 70 members of DDSA’s board and committees spread across the country, representing universities, private companies, and public institutions.
DDSA’s secretariat is located at DTU in Lyngby, and the Chair of DDSA’s Board of Directors is Professor Lars Kai Hansen at DTU Compute. “We are very much looking forward to further developing DDSA with Managing Director Marie Helene Andersson. She brings great enthusiasm and very relevant experience from her previous positions, including implementing the strategic agenda for data and AI at LEO Pharma,” he says.
The Danish Data Science Academy was established at the end of 2021 with a five-year grant of approximately 180 million Danish Kroner from the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the VILLUM Foundation.