After spending a semester in Copenhagen conducting research on health anxiety, CC senior Chris Gruschow ’26 earned the Award for Academic Achievement Abroad from the nonprofit Forum on Education Abroad.
“Receiving the Award for Academic Achievement Abroad for my project on health anxiety means a great deal to me,” says Gruschow, a Neuroscience major. “It serves both as recognition of the hard work my coauthors and I put into this study, and as an acknowledgement of how transformative studying abroad was for me as well as how impactful it can be for many others.”
Gruschow conducted this research through Danish Institute for Study Abroad Copenhagen. He was in Copenhagen from September through December of 2024 working on his project entitled, “Structural Brain Abnormalities in Patients with Severe Health Anxiety: A Cross-Sectional MRI Study.” This project focused on whether key structures of the fear processing network affected in anxiety disorder, such as the amygdala, thalamus, and prefrontal cortex, are also implicated in health anxiety. While abroad, Gruschow performed manual corrections to MRI data and wrote the draft of his paper. Once he returned to campus, he finished the draft and went through the publishing process.
Gruschow worked under the guidance of his research mentor, Dr. Julian Macoveanu, of Psychiatric Centre Copenhagen, and alongside Emory University student Anna Hampton.
Gruschow and his colleagues’ research suggests that gray matter alterations in the thalamus and medial orbitofrontal cortex are shared features of health anxiety and anxiety disorders, and that the correlation between symptom severity and a distinct thalamic subregion may individuate features that differentiate health anxiety from other anxiety disorders.
Gruschow plans to return to Copenhagen in the fall to study bioinformatics at either the University of Copenhagen or the Danish Technical University. He will carry with him into his future career in biological research the tools he gained while abroad, including improving his scientific writing and research skills.
“Living in Copenhagen, I also gained a deeper understanding of the importance of community and shared spaces in creating a balanced, fulfilling life,” Gruschow adds. “I plan to bring this mindset into my future home after graduation.”
