Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr 3, 2018 | Page 5

University Clinics in the Nordic Countries Establishing a Clinical Trial Unit in Dermato-Venereology at Odense University Hospital, Denmark A nette B ygum Department of Dermatology and Allergy Centre, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected] The Department of Dermatology and Allergy Centre, Odense University Hospital (OUH) is one of 5 dermatology departments in Denmark. It was established in 1968, when the clinical part of the curriculum at the medical school opened at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), founded in 1966. Situated in the heart of Denmark, the department serves the Region of Southern Denmark with a catchment area of 1.2 million people. In the region we have 14 dermatologists in private practice. The department has 2 research units comprising dermato-ven- erology and type I allergy, and this article refers to the former. Head of research at the allergy unit is professor, PhD, DMSc Carsten Bindslev-Jensen. The website of the research unit can be found on SDU’s website and the department’s allergy elite research centre at the ORCA website. The first professor at the department was Henning Schmidt, who had a broad clinical interest and research focus on vene- rology, especially syphilis. He studied the symbolics of tattoos and had a huge photo collection of these. He was succeeded by professor Klaus Ejner Andersen in 1989, who worked as a clinical professor until May 2015. Dr Andersen is a renowned international researcher within contact dermatitis, contact allergy, plant dermatitis and skin toxicology. He established the Allergen Bank in 1992. In October 2015, Anette Bygum was appointed Clinical Professor and became responsible for medical teaching and research. The focus areas of Dr Bygum are genodermatoses and paediatric dermatology. Research is a core task for a university hospital and contrib- utes to an inspiring and stimulating working environment. Through all the years, the research tradition has been mostly clinical and application-oriented, often in collaboration with other departments and university institutes. Research and education strengthen the collaboration between OUH and the Department of Clinical Research at SDU. Within recent years, we have been aware of the value of nurse research and development projects, as an important part of our specialty. All staff at the department has a joint responsibility for research, development and teaching activities as part of Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2018, Vol. 23, No. 3 daily clinical life. Patients’ thoughts and inputs are impor- tant in the research process, and they pave the way for more collaboration with patients and patient associations, also in the planning phase of the research projects. The new found knowledge must be made visible and implemented, so that patients can be offered the best treatment as fast as possible. Our research unit comprises one Clinical Professor Anette Bygum, one 5% Professor Klaus E. Andersen, 6 Associate Professors: Flemming Andersen, Sigurd Broesby-Olsen, Tine Vestergaard, Rasmus Bach, Lone Hvid and Sumangali Prasad, 3 clinical nursing specialists: Jeanette Møller Hansen, Julie Hansen and Nadja Trier Munk, 1 Research Fellow Evy Paulsen, two Adjunct Professors Steven Feldman and Julia Reichelt to- gether with one Adjunct Associate Professor Maja Hofmann. Several medical students are affiliated performing pregraduate projects and helping with databases and clinical studies. The department collaborates with other research units in Denmark and abroad in relation to translational research, as we do not have our own laboratory facilities. This does no only apply to translation from basic research to clinic, but also vice versa. The aim for the department and hospital is to have an international research profile. At the same time we strive to have a close collaboration with general practitioners and dermatologists in private practice also with potential collaborative research projects in mind. Research activities Our research unit is involved in 9 PhD projects: • Mathias Tiedemann Svendsen: Adherence to topically pre- scribed corticosteroids and corticosteroid/calcipotriol combina- tions. • Bettina Trettin: Improving management of psoriasis patients: a teledermatology approach. • Eva Rye Rasmussen: Non-histaminergic Angioedema Patients: Identification, Characterization And Treatment (NAPICAT). • Mads Gustaf Jørgensen: Prevention of Lymphedema with Tacrolimus. • Laura Barrett Ryø: Unravelling molecular disease mechanisms in Hereditary Angioedema with normal and abnormal C1 inhibitor. • Didde Haslund: Identification and modeling of hereditary 67