Primære forskningsområder

English presentation

Undervisnings- og vejledningsområder

As vice dean of education I work with faculty leadership, study administrationuniversity departmentsnumerous teachers - and not least our students to run and constantly develop our study programs. We have constant dialogue with the Regions and municipalitiesprivate health practitioners and pharmacieslife science industry and other players that are targeted by our educations in order to sharpen our courses and programs. It is my ambition that we should offer education at the highest international level that are proactive and equip our.

We have approximately 8000 students enrolled in our six schools – MedSchoolVetSchoolPharmaSchoolOdontSchoolSchool of Public Healthand Globe Institute and I encourage you to visit our website to learn more about them all.

As previous head of medical studies and course leader in clinical microbiology I have developed study programsteaching materialslectures and laboratory practicalsand I have written text book chapters on parasitology.

I have supervised a high number of pre- and postgraduate students at DanishGhanaianNigerianKyrgyzGermanFrenchand Swedish Universities or other institutions and continue my role as supervisor that I find highly rewarding.

Kort præsentation

Vice dean for education at Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Professor of Clinical Parasitology and International Health at Department of Immunology and Microbiology

Consultant in Clinical Microbiology at Rigshospitalet

CV

Vice dean for educationFaculty of Health and Medical SciencesUniversity of Copenhagen – since July 2022.

ProfessorCentre for Translational Medicince and ParasitologyDepartment of Immunology and Microbiology (ISIM)Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of Copenhagen (KU) – since May 2013

ConsultantDept. of Clinical Microbiology 7602Rigshospitalet (RH) – since Nov 2009

Education:

• MDKU 1987.
• Diploma in tropical medicine and hygieneKU 1993.
• PhD Faculty of Health SciencesKU 1994.
• Specialist in clinical microbiologyDanish Board of Health 2003.

Additional clinical experience and scientific positions prior to present employment:

• Clinical Microbiology (RHStatens Serum Institut and Hvidovre Hospital)totally 11 years
• Other clinical positions totally 3½ years
• PhD studentRHpost doc and research lecturerKUtotally 8 years
• The PhD included a total of 6 months stay (including field work) at Kenya Medical Research Institute
• 4½ years of the post doc/research lecturer employment I was posted in Accra where I lived and worked as visiting scholar at University of Ghana and research officer at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital

Administrative experience:

• Head of medical studies and chairman of staff student committee (studienævnet)Medical schoolKU
• Head of parasitologymember of ‘sundhedsfagligt råd’and clinic-appointed professorDepartment of Clinical MicrobiologyRH
• Leader of the Pathogenesis team at Centre for Medical Parasitology (CMPcmp.ku.dk)
• Past president World Federation of Parasitologists (wfpnet.org)
• Acting vice-deanFaculty of Health SciencesKU – 3 months (March-May 2017)
• Implementing partner in phase 1 of the Building Stronger Universities initiative of DANIDA
• Development and administration of research laboratories in Ghana (1994-98 and 2013-2018 mavareca.cmp.ku.dk). Collaborator in HAI-Ghana (https://haiproject.org/) and the ICARS-funded demonstration program ‘Facilitating appropriate antibiotic use in respiratory tract infections in children in Kyrgyzstan’
• Administration and co-adminstration of more than 20 grantsincluding IPR and patent negotiations
• Grant reviewing for Danish and international agencies
• Member (observer with right of speach) of the boards of Copenhagen University Hospital (KUH) and Technical University Hospital (TUH).

Teachingsupervision and research collaborations:

• Course leader in clinical microbiology for medical students 2009-2015.
• Supervision of 17 PhD projects and >40 master and bachelor projects (Danish and international)
• Responsible for expert education in parasitology for specialist registrars in clinical microbiology
• Advanced technology collaboration with Grundfos and Unisensor plus Danish Technical University on water safety device (parasite sensor)
• Collaboration on drug development with Vifor Pharma Int.Switzerland and Novo Nordisk ASDenmark
• Research collaborations with University of GhanaUniversity of AmsterdamUniversity of SydneyLondon School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineInstitut Pasteur ParisKenya Medical Research InstituteEbonyi State University NigeriaUniversity of LeipzigJimma University Hospital EthiopiaRepublican Research Centre of Pulmonology and Rehabilitation the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic and others.

Major research areas:

Malaria pathogenesis and experimental therapy

• Clinical malaria research
• Biomedical research connected with clinical and epidemiological studies
• Animal and in vitro models of cerebral malaria and malarial anaemia

Childhood infections in developing countries

• Neonatal infections
• Infections and their relationship with nutrition with special focus on iron deficiency
• Hospital-acquired infections
• Antimicrobial resistance

General parasitology

• Novel diagnostic techniques
• Parasitic diseases and pneumocystis in immunocompromised patients

Publications:

177 scientific papers plus 12 letterseditorials etc. in journals with peer review since 1988.

Orcid-link: orcid.org/0000-0003-2760-8713

Scopus author ID: 10238852300

Thesis:

Kurtzhals JAL. Immuno-epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis. A model for the study of immune responses to Leishmania donovani infection in humans. PhD thesis; KU: 1993.

Patents:

1. Burckhardt SFunk FKurtzhals J & Sørensen LM. Iron carbohydrate complex compounds for the intravenous therapy of malaria. WO/2012/104204
2. Andersen JGEnemark HLAl-Sabi MNS & Kurtzhals J. Detection device and method. PCT/DK2012/050497.

Selected papers:

1. Kurtzhals JALHey ASJardim AKemp MSchaefer K-UOdera EOChristensen CBVGithure JIOlafson RWTheander TG & Kharazmi A. Dichotomy of the human T-cell response to Leishmania antigens. II. Absent or TH2-like response to gp63 and TH1-like response to lipophosphoglycan-associated protein in cells from cured visceral leishmaniasis patients. Clin Exp Immunol 1994; 96: 416-421.
2. Kurtzhals JALRodrigues OAddae MCommey JOONkrumah FK & Hviid L. Reversible suppression of bone marrow response to erythropoietin in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Br J Haematol 1997; 97: 169-174.
3. Kurtzhals JALAdabayeri VGoka BQAkanmori BDOliver-commey JONkrumah FKBehr C & Hviid L. Low plasma concentrations of interleukin 10 in severe malarial anaemia compared with cerebral and uncomplicated malaria. Lancet 1998; 351: 1768-1772.
4. Nielsen MAStaalsoe TKurtzhals JALGoka BQDodoo DTheander TGAkanmori BD & Hviid L. Plasmodium falciparum variant surface antigen expression varies between isolates causing severe and non-severe malaria and is modified by acquired immunity. J Immunol 2002; 168: 3444-3450.
5. Adjei GOKristensen KGoka BQHøgberg LCGAlifrangis MRodrigues OP & Kurtzhals JAL. Effect of concomitant artesunate administration and CYP2C8 polymorphisms on the pharmacokinetics of amodiaquine in Ghanaian children with uncomplicated malaria. Antimicrobial Agents Chemother 2008; 52: 4400-4406.
6. Hempel CCombes VHunt NHKurtzhals JALGrau GER. CNS hypoxia is more pronounced in murine cerebral than non-cerebral malaria and reversed by erythropoietin. Am J Pathol 2011; 179: 1939-1950.
7. Rostved AASassi MKurtzhals JALSørensen SSRasmussen ARoss CGogineni EHuber CKutty GKovacs JA & Helweg-Larsen J. Outbreak of Pneumocystis pneumonia in renal and liver transplant patients caused by genotypically distinct strains of Pneumocystis jirovecii. Transplantation 2013; 96:834-842
8. DellaValle BHempel CStaalsø TJohansen FF & Kurtzhals JAL. Glucagon-like peptide-1 analogueliraglutidein experimental cerebral malaria: implications for the role of oxidative stress in cerebral malaria. Malaria J 2016; 15: 427.
9. Hempel CPasini E & Kurtzhals JAL. Endothelial Glycocalyx: Shedding Light on Malaria Pathogenesis. Trends Mol Med 2016; 22: 453-457.
10. Castberg FCMaretty LStaalsoe THempel CClasen-Linde EHviid LKurtzhals JAL. Increased Plasmodium chabaudi malaria mortality in mice with nutritional iron deficiency can be reduced by short-term adjunctive iron supplementation. Malaria J 2017; Malar J 2018;17:34.
11. Stauning MTBediako-Bowan AAndersen LPOpintan JALabi A-KKurtzhals J & Bjerrum S. Traffic flow and microbial air contamination in operating rooms at a major teaching hospital in Ghana. J Hosp Inf; 2018; 99: 263-270. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.12.010.
12. Hempel CSporring C & Kurtzhals JAL. Experimental cerebral malaria is associated with profound loss of both glycan and protein components of the endothelial glycocalyx. FASEB J 2019; 33: 2058-2071. DOI: 10.1096/fj.201800657R.
13. Zangenberg MAbdissa AJohansen ØHTesfaw GFriis HBriend AEshetu BKurtzhals JAL & Girma T. Critical evaluation of the appetite test for children with severe acute malnutrition. Trop Med Int Health 2020; 25: 424-432. doi: 10.1111/tmi.13360.
14. Labi A-KNielsen KLMarvig RLBjerrum SEnweronu-Laryea CBennedbæk MNewman MJAyibor PKAndersen LPKurtzhals JAL. Oxacillinase-181 carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae in neonatal intensive care unitGhana2017–2019. Emerg Infect Dis 2020; 26: 2235-2238. doi: 10.3201/eid2609.200562.
15. Van der Puije WWang CSudharson SHempel COlsen RDalgaard NOfori MHviid LKurtzhals J & Staalsoe T. In vitro selection for adhesion of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes to ABO antigens does not affect PfEMP1 and RIFIN expression. Sci Rep 2020; 10:12871. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-69666-9.
16. Nardo-Marino APetersen JBrewin JBirgens HWilliams TNKurtzhals JALRees D & Glenthøj A. Oxygen gradient ektacytometry does no predict pain in children with sickle cell anaemia. Br J Haematol 2022197609–617. Doi: 10.1111/bjh.17975
17. Khurana MPRaaschou-PedersenDKurtzhals JBardram JEOstrowski SR & Bundgaard JS. Digital health competencies in medical school education: a scoping review and Delphi method study. BMC Med Educ 2022; 26: 129. doi: 10.1186/s12909-022-03163-7.
18. Adjei GOSulley AMGoka BQEnweronu-Laryea CRenner LAlifrangis M & Kurtzhals JAL. Performance of an HRP-2 based (First Response®) and p-LDH-based (Optimal®) rapid diagnostic tests for diagnosis of malaria in paediatric sickle cell disease patients. Clin Infect Dis 2022; 75: 435–41. Doi: 10.1093/cid/ciab977
19. Breindahl NKhan FSkipper MNielsen ABFriis MLPaltved CJensen RDKurtzhals JALKonge LNayahangan LJ. Exploring training needs of newly graduated medical doctors to inform the undergraduate simulation-based curriculum: A national Delphi consensus study. Postgrad Med J 202399116737–44. Doi: 10.1093/postmj/qgac002
20. Helleberg BBGudmundsson KSSKurtzhals JAL & Helleberg M. 2nd stage Human African trypanosomiasis with Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense treated with fexinidazole. Lancet Infect Dis 2023; 23: e505. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00358-4.
21. Isaeva EBloch JAkylbekov ASkov RLPoulsen AKurtzhals JALReventlow SSreenivasan NMademilov MSiersma VSooronbaev TKjærgaard J & Aabenhus R. C-reactive protein testing in primary care and antibiotic use in children with acute respiratory tract infections in Kyrgyzstan: an open-labelindividually randomisedcontrolled trial. Lancet Reg Health Eur 2025; 51: 101184. doi: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.101184
22. Helt TWKurtzhals JList KKStyrishave BYaméogo CWFabiansen CIuel-Brockdorf A-SRitz CBriend AFilteau SMichaelsen KFFriis H & Christensen VB. Hepcidin is low in children with moderate acute malnutrition and asymptomatic malaria: Secondary analysis of a 2x2x3 factorial randomized trial in Burkina Faso. Br J Nutr 2025. Doi: 10.1017/S0007114525105679. Online ahead of print

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