Global Visiting Professors at the Faculty of Medicine

Current position: Professor
Current university or institution: University of Alberta
Country: Canada

Patrick MacDonald's LinkedIn profile

Why did you choose Lund University?

Lund University and the Lund University Diabetes Centre (LUDC) are well known as important international contributors to the development and application of new knowledge in diabetes and its treatment. The work being carried out at LUDC is broad and impactful, ranging from cellular mechanistic studies to genetics and personalized medicine. 

The excellence and breadth of research, and the potential to develop collaborations with my home institution in Alberta and the Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI), particularly in human islet biology, were important factors that led me to pursue a Visiting Professorship at Lund. 

Finally, I have a personal connection as well. Although nearly two decades ago, I was once fortunate to work at Lund University as a postdoctoral fellow. 

It is a testament to the outstanding collegiality at Lund that many relationships from that time survive today. My hope is to build on this foundation and develop new lasting relationships that benefit Lund, Alberta and international diabetes research.  

Can you briefly describe your current research?

My research focuses on understanding the cellular mechanisms responsible for the secretion of hormones like insulin from the pancreas, and what can go wrong with these processes in diabetes. 

My work combines cell and tissue profiling, animal transgenics, and human tissue biobanking. Increasingly, we are integrating large omics and cell function datasets to answer key questions in diabetes and working with collaborators to provide resources for other researchers to do the same. 

My work at the Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI) has also established one of the world's largest human research pancreas/islet biobanking programs in the world, currently working with nearly 180 laboratories and institutions across three continents.

What will be your main research focus during your time at Lund University?

My hope is to support the advancement of human pancreatic islet and diabetes research at LUDC by sharing experience in human pancreas biobanking, tissue phenotyping, and cell profiling. 

I look forward to re-igniting past connections and initiating new collaborations in areas that help us better understand islet cell function in diabetes, stem cells as potential treatments, and how cells and tissues contribute to the diversity of how diabetes manifests across populations.

Current position: Professor of Immunology
Current university or institution: University of Oxford
Country: UK

Sarah Rowland-Jones's LinkedIn profile

Why did you choose Lund University?

I first heard about Lund University through Joakim Esbjörnsson, who worked with our group in Oxford as a senior post-doctoral fellow well over a decade ago. We had made contact after the publication of his seminal paper in the New England Journal of Medicine, which showed that prior HIV-2 infection resulted in delayed HIV-1 disease progression in a cohort in Guinea-Bissau that the Lund team had studied for many years. 

Through this connection I got to know many of Joakim’s colleagues working in Virology at LU and had the pleasure of visiting the university some years ago for an HIV-2 workshop. 

Over the years, I have worked closely with Joakim, with shared projects and PhD students between our two groups. 

I am now really thrilled to have an opportunity to build on these friendships and shared interests, and to develop strong collaborations with the new Virus Research Centre that opened very recently.

Can you briefly describe your current research?

Our research group in Oxford focuses on host-pathogen interactions in human viral infection, with a particular interest in HIV infection. 

We share a long-standing fascination with HIV-2 infection with the Lund virologists and see this as an under-appreciated model of naturally-attenuated HIV infection, which has huge potential to provide insights that could lead to better candidate HIV vaccines and new therapeutic strategies. 

We have collaborated with African researchers for many years and most recently have been working with a team in Zimbabwe to try and understand why so many older children who have survived into adolescence with perinatally-acquired HIV-1 infection (PHIV) develop major comorbidities, such as chronic heart and lung disease. 

We have recently completed work with this team on the Vitality trial that showed improved bone density in young people with PHIV after supplementation with high dose Vitamin D and calcium: our group was investigating whether this treatment may also have benefits for their immune system.

What will be your main research focus during your time at Lund University?

I am looking forward to working with Joakim and Marianne Jansson on their exciting HIV studies and learning about the other interests in the new Centre for virology research. 

I have recently gained some experience in translational research through leading a Theme in Infection and Immunity in an NIHR-funded Biomedical Research centre in Sheffield, so I am delighted to be based in the department of Translational Medicine in Lund.

Current position: Belk Endowed Professor and Violence Prevention Center Associate Director
Current university or institution: University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Country: USA

Robert Cramer's LinkedIn profile

Why did you choose Lund University? 

I chose Lund explicitly because of the potential fit with Professor Bejerholm and the Mental Health, Participation, and Activity Research Group. 

Their movement toward co-designed mental health and suicide prevention work blends well with much of my US and international experience. This has the potential to be a long-standing Center to Center collaboration.

Can you briefly describe your current research?

My research addresses three interconnected areas: 

1. Suicide prevention.
2. Hate crimes/violence prevention.
3. LGBTQ+ health. 

It spans basic science (e.g., theory testing) to applied studies (e.g., training and therapy interventions), using psychometric, experimental, community-engaged and other approaches. Major emphases at this time include a clinical trial evaluating Group Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Suicide, and international testing and adaptation of the Core Competency Model of Suicide Prevention Training.  

What will be your main research focus during your time at Lund University?

I will serve two roles. First, I will provide guidance and consultation for Professor Bejeholm's team as they launch the ReLife Centre.

Second, I will engage with the suicide prevention research node in ReLife to launch co-designed scale development and training development research for health workers and other audiences.