Career and Education

1994-97: BSc in Biology, University of Aarhus, Denmark.

1997-2000: MSc in Human Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

2001-05: PhD in Cardiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, The Netherlands. Beat-to-beat variability of repolarization and drug-induced torsades de pointes in the canine heart. ISBN 90-9019221-2.

2001-05: H. Lundbeck, Copenhagen, Denmark.

2005-06: Research scientist at the Department of Medical Physiology, Heart-Lung Centre Utrecht, University Medical Centre Utrecht, The Netherlands.

2006-08: Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at the Center for Molecular Therapeutics, Department of Pharmacology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, USA.

2009-10: Assistant professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

2011-present: Associate professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Scientific Citizenship

• Academic council member, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2022-24.
• The Scandinavian Physiological Society: Founder and Chair of Special Interest Group for Cardiac Physiology; Board Member for Denmark (2020-2024).
• ESC Working Group on Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology, nucleus member.
• Associate Editor – Acta Physiologica, 2020-present
• Lecturer at the Academy for the Talented Youth (ATU), 2018-present. Teacher of the year, 2020.
• Deputy Editor in Chief – Physiological Reports, 2018-22.
• Appointment as external examiner for the medical education in Denmark, 2018-26.
• Editorial Board member – Heart Rhythm, 2011-15.
• Editorial Board member – Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology, 2010-present.
• PhD evaluations and examinations in Denmark, Norway, UK, Netherlands, and Switzerland.
• Grant reviewer for national research councils in Czech Republic, Belgium, Netherlands, and UK.

Bibliometrics

Morten B Thomsen has published 64 peer-reviewed journal articles since 2003. Collectively, these articles have been cited more than 2,500 times. His h-index is 25 when calculated by Google Scholar.

I am driven by my interest in how the electricity of the heart and the pump function of the heart interact. This means that I bridge the research areas “cardiac electrophysiology” and “cardiovascular hemodynamics”. Currently, I am devoted to addressing the unmet medical needs of patients with Heart Failure with preserved Ejection Fraction (HFpEF).

Patients with HFpEF have unchartered disease progression, debilitating symptoms of heart failure, ambiguous diagnostic criteria, significant comorbidities of unknown importance, and no effective treatment options. I want to contribute significantly to understanding HFpEF through the use of relevant animal models for HFpEF.

Next to HFpEF, my research fields are circadian rhythms, chronobiology, arrhythmias, ion-channel pharmacology, the evolutionary aspects of cardiac electrical impulse conduction and ECGs.

I teach, study and research due to my love of knowledge and my motive is often simply intellectual ambition. I thoroughly enjoy the academic freedom and the possibility of studying fundamental questions at the university, and I have little affection for the purpose-driven, solution-oriented approach.