Forum for Nordic Dermato-Venereology Nr1,2019 | Page 8

Magnus Lindberg – A Vision of Academic Dermato-Venereology in Örebro, Sweden
first academic position was established at the clinic; an ad-
junct professor in dermatology (Magnus Lindberg), who held
a part-time senior consultant position. When the Medical
School programme started a teaching position, Professor in
Dermatology, was created at the university in 2012. Professor
Magnus Lindberg still holds that position. (To date, this is the
only paid academic position in dermatology-venereology in
Örebro.) Colleges at the department of dermatology-venereo­
logy are engaged in teaching, with both clinical training and
giving lectures as a part of their clinical positions. Currently,
there are 3 dermatologists at the clinic who have a PhD, but
only the Professor has a higher academic degree.
The goal during recent years has been to transform the der-
matology clinic into a clinic with a more academic way of
thinking and to interest younger colleagues and students to
start research in the field of dermatology-venereology. The
new medical school is essential in this, as teaching students in
the clinic helps in implementing the idea of academic work.
Secondly the exposure of students to dermatology-venereology
helps recruit students for both Bachelor’s and Master’s degree
projects. Having students at the clinic also increases awareness
of education among the staff. In addition, the structure of the
medical school programme facilitates the establishment of
collaboration between disciplines. Within the School of Med-
ical Sciences, we have expertise in most research areas, from
genetics, cellular biology, inflammation, and immunology to
epidemiology. As we meet on daily or weekly basis (at least
for coffee) the opportunities to establish collaborations are
good. Besides the research groups, the county (Region Örebro)
provides laboratory facilities that can be used for research at
the hospital clinics.
I n
practice
The clinic can provide clinical material and clinically rele-
vant questions. Being a small unit starting from a low level
of activity, we continuously strive to initiate basic research
projects. Such projects, however, must be realistic, possible
to perform with small resources and/or in collaboration with
others, and could be the starting point for further research.
The main research interests, from the clinical point of view,
have been aspects of hand eczema, quality of life in skin dis-
eases, contact allergy, and non-melanoma skin cancer (basal
cell cancer). Based on our concept of implementing academy
at the dermatology clinic we have performed several minor
Table I. Type of project and methods used/available during 2010–2017. Research by senior researchers excluded
Educational level Number of projects Methods Publications
Bachelor’s degree 10 (1 ongoing) (6–8)
Master’s degree 7 (1 ongoing) Clinical follow-up of treatment
Compiling clinical data concerning skin cancers
Systematic literature reviews
Evaluation of different QoL instruments
Microbiological methods
Histology; immunohistochemistry
Patch-testing
Compiling and evaluation of population-based questionnaires
QoL instruments
Clinical follow-up
Patch-testing
Compilation of clinical data
Compilation of register data
Meta-analysis
Questionnaires
Qualitative analysis of narratives
Epidemiology
QoL instruments
Skin exposure measurements
Skin penetration
Cell cultures and toxicological evaluation of exposure to harmful stimuli
PCR
Analysis of skin inflammation markers
Patch-test register registration (EpiReg)
Compilation of results from the patch-test register
QoL instruments
Microbiological methods and clinical follow-up (STI)
Histochemistry, molecular techniques, PCR, clinical evaluations
PhD (2 completed in 2010 4 in progress (2 with
and 2013)
main tutors in other
research groups)
Work included in doctors’ 5
specialist medical
training for dermatology-
venereology
3 manuscripts in
process
(9–11)
Publication for
thesis defended in
2010 and 2013, not
included here
(8, 12–14)
QoL: quality of life; EpiReg: national register for patch-test results; STI: sexually-transmitted infections.
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D ermato -V enereology in the N ordic C ountries
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2019, Vol. 24, No. 1