Honorary doctorate 2021: Professor Katja Zeppenfeld (Faculty of Health)
Katja Zeppenfeld is a professor of clinical electrophysiology and head of the clinical electrophysiology research and treatment centre in Leiden, The Netherlands. She is one of just a handful of female elite researchers within cardiology, and she is widely recognised as one of the top three researchers within electrophysiology in the world. She publishes in leading cardiology journals and is one of the most widely cited researchers in the field.
Zeppenfeld has contributed to the development of new methods of ablation, a procedure for the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmias) that uses either heat or freezing of the abnormal tissue causing the arrhythmia. She has developed new procedures that combine cardiac-magnetic resonance with ablation, which improves outcomes for patients with arrhythmias.
Zeppenfeld is affiliated with the Department of Cardiology at Aarhus University Hospital as an affiliated professor, and plays a central role at the department. She has extensive clinical experience with ablation of ventricular tachycardia (a life-threatening arrythmia caused by abnormal electrical activity in the lower chambers of the heart. This condition is on the rise, so this specialisation is a high priority at the department.