Pandemics and Alertness member WG2 (Fighting the virus), LINXS Fellow

Department of Clinical microbiology, Region Skåne, Lund, Sweden

Claus Bohn Christiansen is a medical doctor from Copenhagen University (1987), with an early interest in infectious diseases, especially viruses – HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV, and HCV as newly discovered viruses in the 1980s and 1990s. His Ph.D. investigated the Danish hemophiliacs who contracted HIV and some also HCV from blood products, at a time before effective antivirals were available. He worked at the HIV/Rubella laboratory at Statens Serum Institut for six years from 1992, followed by a specialization in Clinical Microbiology, which he completed in 2005. During his time at Rigshospitalet until 2017, he worked with immunosuppressed patients and provided advice to clinicians about specific antiviral treatment. His research continued with respiratory viruses and tickborne diseases.

Since 2017, he has been at Lund University, Department of Clinical Microbiology, where he serves as a medical adviser concerning “all medical issues” and is part of the management team. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, he was a coordinator of SARS-CoV-2 testing in Region Skåne. He also participates in weekly meetings at the Clinical Virology LU Institute for Translational Medicine, which has a special interest in HIV in Africa.