Lone Simonsen (born 1959) is a Danish

epidemiologist Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...

population health Population health has been defined as "the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group". It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire human population. It ha ...

sciences. Since the beginning of 2020, she has been the director of PandemiX, an interdisciplinary pandemic research center at

Roskilde University Roskilde University ( da, Roskilde Universitet, abbreviated RUC or RU) is a Danish public university founded in 1972 and located in Trekroner in the Eastern part of Roskilde. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD de ...

. After receiving her graduate degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditar ...

and chemistry from

in 1985, Simonsen continued her educational career at

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

and in 1992 she received her

PhD degree A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

population genetics Population genetics is a subfield of genetics that deals with genetic differences within and between populations, and is a part of evolutionary biology. Studies in this branch of biology examine such phenomena as adaptation, speciation, and pop ...

. After receiving her degree at

UMass The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

, Simonsen conducted research in

microbial ecology Microbial ecology (or environmental microbiology) is the ecology of microorganisms: their relationship with one another and with their environment. It concerns the three major domains of life— Eukaryota, Archaea, and Bacteria—as well as vi ...

as a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to pu ...

Danish Technical University The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

. In 1992, she started working as a

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

, where in 1994, she received her graduate diploma in applied epidemiology. Simonsen continued her career as a

working for

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book ''Horton Hear ...

UNAIDS The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) (, ONUSIDA) is the main advocate for accelerated, comprehensive and coordinated global action on the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. The mission of UNAIDS is to lead, strengthen and support an ...

and later at

NIH The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late 1 ...

, where she conducted research in

influenza pandemic An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the last ...

s. During her career, Simonsen has worked with issues including

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

antibiotic resistance Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from the effects of antimicrobials. All classes of microbes can evolve resistance. Fungi evolve antifungal resistance. Viruses evolve antiviral resistanc ...

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV or SARS-CoV-1), the first identified strain of the SARS coronavirus species, '' s ...

pandemic influenza An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads across a large region (either multiple continents or worldwide) and infects a large proportion of the population. There have been six major influenza epidemics in the las ...

e-health eHealth (also written e-health) is a relatively recent healthcare practice supported by electronic processes and communication, dating back to at least 1999. Usage of the term varies as it covers not just "Internet medicine" as it was conceived ...

, surveillance systems and vaccine program evaluation. She was assigned by the NIH to WHO in Geneva to work on the SARS outbreak in 2003. She uses historical and current disease data together with

mathematical model A mathematical model is a description of a system using mathematical concepts and language. The process of developing a mathematical model is termed mathematical modeling. Mathematical models are used in the natural sciences (such as physics, ...

s to predict the development of current and future epidemics. Trained in population genetics and epidemiology in the US, Simonsen returned to her native Denmark in 2014, working first at

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

and later at

University of Roskilde Roskilde University ( da, Roskilde Universitet, abbreviated RUC or RU) is a Danish public university founded in 1972 and located in Trekroner in the Eastern part of Roskilde. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD deg ...

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Simonsen has been a central scientist advising the Danish health authorities and the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...

on the evolving situation, as well as conducted groundbreaking research on

superspreading A superspreading event (SSEV) is an event in which an infectious disease is spread much more than usual, while an unusually contagious organism infection, infected with a pathogen, disease is known as a superspreader. In the human-to-human transmi ...

. She was often used as an epidemiological expert by Danish media and her large exposure gave her the nickname "Corona-Lone".

Publications

Her primary research field is

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

and

pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...

s. Her main work are within these fields, but her publications cover a broad spectrum of themes within historical epidemiology,

burden of disease Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Bot ...

modelling,

global health Global health is the health of the populations in the worldwide context; it has been defined as "the area of study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide". Problem ...

epidemiology, vaccine program evaluation together with

interdisciplinary research Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

Literary production (selected)

* ''Overdispersion in COVID-19 increases the effectiveness of limiting nonrepetitive contacts for transmission control'' (2021), * ''Comparing SARS-CoV-2 with SARS-CoV and influenza pandemics'' (2020), * ''Cholera Epidemics of the Past Offer New Insights Into an Old Enemy'' (2018), * ''Global Mortality Estimates for the 2009 Influenza Pandemic: A Modeling Study'' (2013), * ''Demographic variability, vaccination, and the spatiotemporal dynamics of rotavirus epidemics'' (2009), * ''The signature features of influenza pandemics-implications for policy'' (2009), * ''Epidemiologic characterization of the summer wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Copenhagen: Implications for pandemic control'' (2008), * ''Mortality benefits of influenza vaccination in elderly people: an ongoing controversy'' (2007), * ''The genesis and spread of reassortment human influenza A/H3N2 viruses conferring adamantane resistance'' (2007), * ''Pandemic versus epidemic influenza mortality: A pattern of changing age distribution'' (1998),

Honors and awards (selected)

* Danish Research Communication Award, Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, 2021. *

Research Communication Award, co-awarded with V. Andreasen, 2021

References

External links

List of all publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonsen, Lone 1959 births Living people World Health Organization officials Academic staff of Roskilde University Women epidemiologists COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark Roskilde University alumni 21st-century Danish women scientists University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni Danish expatriates in the United States National Institutes of Health people Academic staff of the University of Copenhagen Centers for Disease Control and Prevention people