Abstract
Wow! Where to begin … This compilation of academic dissertations from the Danish Headache Center over the past 3.5 decades is both humbling and inspiring. To say that the Danish Headache Center has been ground zero (NOUN: a place at the center of changes that are happening fast) for headache medicine over the past 40 decades would hardly be hyperbole.
Before commenting specifically on the academic powerhouse that these dissertations reflect, it should be said that the birthplace of the International Classification of Headache Disorders has arguably done more to facilitate research in the field of headache over the past three decades than any other advance, by facilitating epidemiological, genetic, and clinical research, including human drug, device, and biologics development for the treatment of migraine and other headache disorders. It was in part the order that the classification created at a time of nosologic chaos, and the research opportunities that it made possible, that drew countless young clinicians (including this one in 1993) to the field.
The breadth of the science represented in this compilation of dissertations is striking. It covers studies that probe drug pharmacology, population-based, twin and genetic epidemiology, animal and human disease models, and imaging – from early radionucleide cerebral blood flow studies to those employing high resolution structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging. From 1980–2016 the center exploited the most advanced technology available at the time to evaluate the pathophysiological basis of a spectrum of headache disorders.
The chronological flow of these theses also demonstrates not only the evolution in the thinking of the founders of this group, but the fact that they were ahead of their time – delving into areas of disease mechanism (e.g. peripheral and central sensitization) before they became established and prevailing concepts. The center has also become well known for its courage in taking on challenging and difficult areas (tension-type headache, post-traumatic headache), and its commitment to translational science through the use of human models of disease. They are the prototype for taking discoveries made at benches around the world and determining whether they were relevant to the human condition.
This collection of theses also highlights the enormous impact the center has had on the field by being an incubator for scientists and clinicians who would go on to lead the field. And they haven’t slowed down, just recently developing the only degree-granting masters program in Headache. I have had the very good fortune to become friends with, learn from, and collaborate with Professor Olesen and his colleagues over the years, and I continue to be inspired by the creativity and integrity of their work, their commitment to advancing and growing the field, and their organizational prowess. Anyone looking for something as simple as designing a study to building a three-shield (patient care, research, education) clinical and academic juggernaut, need look no further than the Danish Headache Center for inspiration.