Professor of pulmonary medicine at SDU and OUH

By Tomas Homburg, thomburg@health.sdu.dk, 2/1/2024

Jesper Rømhild Davidsen's research focuses primarily on how diagnostics and treatment monitoring can be optimised within his specialty: patients with rare lung diseases and interstitial lung diseases, which are diseases of the lung tissue, but also in chronic fungal infection of the lungs (chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA)) and conditions arising in connection with lung transplantation. 

The challenge of the detective work to diagnose and treat these complex diseases and conditions, most often in a multidisciplinary collaboration, is what drives Jesper Rømhild Davidsen.

Unfortunately, the complexity can cause delays in obtaining the diagnosis, and this can have serious consequences for the patient's overall prognosis. Therefore, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen's research investigates whether new methods centered around thoracic ultrasound scanning, specific molecules in the blood, HRCT scannings of the lungs and questionnaires can help optimizing diagnostics.

This has led to both national and international research collaboration within different subtypes of interstitial lung diseases and formed the basis for that Jesper Rømhild Davidsen in 2022 established the PUlmo-REuma (PURE) Frontline Center at OUH, a research collaboration with the Department of Rheumatology at OUH on patients with interstitial lung diseases arising from autoimmune rheumatological disease.

In parallel with his research, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen has focused on developing, planning and teaching national courses in interstitial lung diseases and HRCT scanning. He also teaches various national and international courses in thoracic ultrasound scanning.

About Jesper Rømhild Davidsen

Jesper Rømhild Davidsen graduated as a doctor in 2002 at SDU. He defended his PhD thesis "Drug utilization and asthma control among young Danish adults with asthma" at SDU in 2011, and became a specialist in respiratory medicine in 2014. Since then, he has been employed as a consultant at the Department of Pulmonary Medicine at OUH with employment at Rigshospitalet in 2015, where he subspecialized in management of lung transplantation, but has also had subspecialization stays in Italy, France and England.

Since 2017, 2018 and 2022, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen has served as senior consultant, specialty chief consultant manager and lead consultant. In 2015, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen joined the Department of Clinical Research at SDU as a clinical associate professor, where he has since supervised numerous thesis students, younger colleagues and PhD students.

In 2016, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen was the main initiator of the establishment of South Danish Centre for Interstitial Lung Diseases (SCILS, a tertiary referral centre for patients with interstitial and rare lung diseases inhabited in the Region of Southern Denmark)with improvement of clinical standards to an international level, which is reflected in the achievement of European Reference Network (ERN)-LUNG support membership in 2020 with the establishment of further national and international clinical and research collaboration.

In addition to establishing SCILS and the Frontline Centre PURE, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen has implemented transbronchial pulmonary cryobiopsy for diagnostics of interstitial lung diseases in 2017 within the highly specialised areas and established a formalised collaboration with Rigshospitalet on lung transplantation.

In 2018-2022, Jesper Rømhild Davidsen was chairman of the Regional Specialty Committee for Respiratory Medicine in the Region of Southern Denmark, and since 2021 he has been chairman of the committee for interstitial lung diseases under the Danish Respiratory Society and also acts in the board of the international CPAnet and GLILDnet.

Jesper Rømhild Davidsen lives in Odense and is happily married to Tine Busch Davidsen, who is an oncological and palliative pediatric physiotherapist at OUH. Together they have Sara, 21, and Simon, 18. Spare time is prioritized on the company of family and friends as well as travel, and when mental relaxation is neededly, it takes place in running shoes, on mountain biking or using local culture possibilities.