Rigshospitalet
Copenhagen, Denmark
With this, I would like to declare my interest in continuing as member of the Executive board of WMS that I have served on for 5 years. In these 5 years, WMS has changed considerably to become a much more transparent organization with a revised and modernized WMS charter, a reach out to engage members in the organization (invitation of members to participate in the program committee, renewal of website, just to mention a few) and reformatting of the annual meetings. I have enjoyed being part of this important journey and would love to continue the quest for transparency and membership engagement. I am an adult neurologist, which I think is underrepresented in the committee at present, considering the profile of WMS members. I have attended most WMS meetings over the past 17 years and as a program and executive committee members has helped organize the last 5 meetings. I was the main organizer and host of the last face-to-face WMS meeting in Copenhagen in 2019. I am currently chairman of the program committee for WMS.
I am 62 years old and have been full professor at the University of Copenhagen for 15 years and I am the founder and director of the Copenhagen Neuromuscular Center at the national hospital, Rigshospitalet, in Copenhagen, with 45 full-time employees. I have published more than 450 scientific articles on muscle disease and have a lab that covers many aspects of muscle disease from basic science and animal models to clinical interventional studies. We also have a large clinical trial unit with 25 ongoing clinical trials with the pharma industry. A partnership that I think is essential for developing effective treatment for our patients. My special areas of interest are mitochondrial diseases metabolic myopathies, muscular dystrophies, new disease discovery, development of training strategies for patients affected by neuromuscular diseases, MR imaging of neuromuscular diseases, defining outcome measures for natural history and trials and unraveling genotype-phenotype relations and pathophysiology of muscle diseases.
