Professor in Sports Medicine, Faculty of Health & Medical Sciences
University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Head & Consultant, Institute of Sports Medicine
Dept of Orthopedic Surgery
Copenhagen University Hospital

Bio:
1984 MD, University of Copenhagen
1995 Board Certified Specialist in Rheumatology
1985 – 1986 Research Fellow, Dept of Physiology, University of Copenhagen
1986 – 1987 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dept Endocrinol, Stanford University
1987 – 1997 Clinical Education in Internal medicine and Rheumatology, Copenhagen University Hospitals

Who have been your mentors?
Professor Henrik Galbo, University of Copenhagen and Professor Gerald M Reaven, Stanford University

What are your specific research areas and expertise?
The common headline has always been the influence of exercise upon the musculoskeletal system. In the early years, the focus was more metabolic and then shifted towards the understanding of skeletal muscle adaptation towards training, aging, disuse, disability, and regeneration after injury. Also, the interest in adaptation of connective tissue to loading and overloading of especially tendon grew, and in the last twenty years, a focus has been the understanding of tendon overloading and the pathogenesis of tendinopathy.

What are you currently working on?
A major interest currently is the early phase of tendinopathy and the understanding of the sequence of pathological tissue changes and its coupling to clinical pain.

What has been the biggest challenge for you in your research?
I have been fortunate enough to always have extremely dedicated and skillful collaborators, post docs, and students, but clearly the constant struggle for funding has always been a challenge.

What project(s) are you looking forward to in the near future?
Human studies in which we try to entangle the role of circadian rhythm in tendinopathy are exiting, as well as attempts to reveal the early pathological phenomenon in tendon-associated with training overload.

What do you want to do next in your career?
Currently, I try as best as I can to pass on the experience I have gained to the next generation. I also try to mentor and support the career development of the younger researchers so that they can become the scientific leaders of tomorrow.

What advice would you give young investigators in the field?
The vital thing in research is curiosity and being thrilled by discovering new scientific findings. If you have that, all the other challenging obstacles be it of administrative, bureaucratic, or methodological nature are easier to neglect.

When you’re not in the lab, what do you like to do for fun?
I enjoy literature, music, and theatre.

What resources would you like to see available from the ORS Tendon Section?
Funding money for international collaborations. I think the expertise by groups from different countries could create a synergistic effect.

How can we follow you?
Lab Website | Lab Twitter (X)