Marit Næss

Marit Næss is the Head of the HUNT Research Centre and Biobank at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), within the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Public Health and Nursing. She holds a PhD in Community Medicine (2019) and a Master in Public Health (UiT). Her research focuses on obesity epidemiology, genetic and environmental influences on health, and biobank management. Notably, she has led studies on intergenerational obesity transmission and vitamin D tracking in the HUNT cohort.

Education: NTNU leadership programs, PhD in Community Medicine, Master in Public Health (UiT), and a Bachelor's in Biomedical Laboratory Science (1986).

Research interests include public health surveillance, chronic disease prevention, and genetic epidemiology. Her work emphasizes longitudinal cohort studies like the HUNT Study, which tracks health metrics across generations in Norway.

Publications highlight contributions to biobanking standards, obesity genetics, and vitamin metabolism in disease contexts. She has served on boards for institutions like TkMidt and the NTNU University Museum, and chairs committees for health research assessments.

As a leader in HUNT, she oversees a biobank with millions of biological samples, supporting large-scale genetic and epidemiological research. Her work bridges laboratory science, public health policy, and community engagement.