1978-80: Visiting professor, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; 1981-91: Professor and Chair, Department of Oral Biology, Royal Dental College, Aarhus; 1984: Visiting Scientist, Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; 1991-2014: Professor and chair, Medical Microbiology (Bacteriology), 2014- : emeritus professor Aarhus University, affiliated professor, Bacterial population genetics, Copenhagen University. 2014-2018: Director, The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH.

Research interest:

Host-parasite relationships in infectious diseases and commensalism. Mucosal immunology. Molecular aspects of bacterial virulence factors. Comparative evolution of genomes of bacterial pathogens and commensals.

Awards (selected):

Thuréus research prize 1996; Fritz Kauffmann Prize 1997; Edwin Neter memorial plenary lecture, ASM Annual Meeting, Florida 1997; Elected fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, 2006; Honorary doctor, Malmö University, 2012; Distinguished Scientist Award, European Federation of Periodontology, 2016; Honorary Fellow, King’s College London, 2019