Researcher receives million-dollar grant to map chronic skin diseases

Here's the translation:

"The skin can tell stories about what's happening inside the body. But for patients with certain chronic skin diseases, researchers still lack answers to basic questions.

Why do some people develop these diseases? What happens to them in the long term, and how can their treatment be improved?

Now a new research project supported by a grant from the LEO Foundation will follow thousands of Danes with two chronic immune diseases throughout their entire patient journey.

"We want to understand what characterizes patients before and after they receive their diagnosis. It's fundamentally about mapping their journey through the healthcare system. Once we have that reality grounded in statistics, we can begin to investigate how we can improve the journey," says Ph.D. researcher at the Department of Clinical Medicine Sigrún Alba Jóhannesdóttir Schmidt.

She has just received a five-year Dr. Abildgaard Fellowship from the LEO Foundation. Specifically, Sigrún Alba Jóhannesdóttir Schmidt and her research group will investigate two chronic diseases – bullous pemphigoid and lichen planus – which cause inflammation in skin and mucous membranes and can be both painful and stigmatizing.

Will pave the way for better treatments

In the project, the researchers will analyze several national registers, including data on tissue samples, hospital diagnoses, prescription medications, and citizens' life expectancy to, among other things, identify patterns in disease progression.

Additionally, the researchers will map how widespread the diseases are, what triggers them, and how patients live with the conditions in the long term.

The purpose is to create a foundation for better treatments in the future.

"The grant gives me the opportunity to shed light on diseases we know surprisingly little about. My previous research on bullous pemphigoid suggests that the disease weakens cardiovascular health, and we hope to map whether patients have an increased risk for other diseases," says Sigrún Alba Jóhannesdóttir Schmidt.

The fellowship includes 12 million kroner over the next five years, which gives Sigrún Alba Jóhannesdóttir Schmidt the opportunity to build her own research group for the project.

Contact

Ph.D. and physician Sigrún Alba Jóhannesdóttir Schmidt 
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Dermatology 
Email: saj@clin.au.dk 
Phone: 87167212