Head of the Department of Clinical Medicine remains in his post

Can you name three things you are proud of having achieved as Head of Department at IKM?

1) I am proud of our organisational structure, which we created from scratch in connection with the establishment of IKM

The IKM structure is a bit complex. A lot of our academic staff are also active clinicians employed by the Capital Region of Denmark and/or Region Zealand hospitals, which means that binding the Department together is a never-ending process. Therefore, I am very proud of our matrix structure, which ensures that our staff are connected via their medical specialties (the so-called academic pillars) as well as their external employment.

The matrix structure is a success i.a. because our managing professors/associate professors and coordinating professors/associate professors are really good at navigating and linking units and people. The fact that IKM is a well-functioning, cohesive department is very much their achievement.

2) I am proud of the new Region Zealand study programme in medicine

We helped put together the programme, and IKM employees will be responsible for the clinical courses.

The new programme is proof of the good working relationship between UCPH/SUND and the two regions, which make up the UCPH university hospitals. This is something I am very proud of.

3) I am proud of the IKM ambassadors

They are clinical lecturers and active clinicians who understand the unique conditions their colleagues at IKM work under.

The ambassadors help ensure that the Department’s strategic objectives are translated into practice. They offer their colleagues qualified guidance within a range of areas; we thus have Absalon ambassadors, clinical ambassadors, innovation ambassadors, digitisation ambassadors and internationalisation ambassadors. It is a great setup that gives us a chance to learn from each other.

Many of us are thrilled about Jesper continuing as head of department. With him at the helm, IKM has developed a lot and achieved great results. Jesper is deeply committed and knowledgeable about clinical research and education, and he contributes greatly to building bridges between clinicians and basic researchers at our faculty. I am sure that IKM's employees are in safe hands with Jesper as leader for the next three years.

Can you name three things you want to focus on in the future?

1) Clinical job structure

We are working on making a clinical lecturer position available to non-doctors and creating an assistant professor position targeted at young doctors. We need both types of positions to provide talented clinical researchers with a university affiliation.

2) Clear academic career direction for research-active clinicians

Clinicians should continue to strive for a university affiliation, and we should continue to strengthen the connection between clinical practice and the University and the individual employee’s work-life balance.

3) We must strive to get rid of redundant procedures

We have a lot of fixed-term positions at IKM, which means that we spend a lot of time advertising jobs and assessing candidates. Moreover, IKM lies at the intersection between UCPH, the Capital Region of Denmark and Region Zealand, which at times results in complex procedures and processes. This is something we are focussing on, and we should continue to do so – because we need to simplify work procedures and make things as simple as possible for everyone.

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