Prof. Mikkel Østergaard MD, PhD, DMSc

Prof. Mikkel Østergaard is Clinical Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Copenhagen and Consultant in Rheumatology and Chairperson of the Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research (COPECARE) at the Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, Rigshospitalet, Glostrup. He has held his current Professor of Rheumatology position at the University of Copenhagen since 2010, having previously served as Professor at the Departments of Rheumatology at Herlev and Hvidovre from 2002 to 2009. He is the Representing Professor of Rheumatology at the Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Copenhagen. COPECARE, the Copenhagen Center for Arthritis Research, covers the entire Capital Region of Denmark since January 2016 and integrates clinical research across rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and axial spondyloarthritis. He serves as Scientific Advisor to IAG, Image Analysis Group.

Prof. Østergaard’s primary research focus is inflammatory joint diseases — particularly rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and undifferentiated arthritis — with particular depth in the application of MRI and ultrasonography for diagnosis, monitoring, and prognostication. His methodological contributions span the development and validation of MRI scoring systems including SPARCC (Spondyloarthritis Research Consortium of Canada), RAMRIS (Rheumatoid Arthritis MRI Scoring), and CANDEN (Canada-Denmark MRI score) scoring systems, investigator-initiated clinical trials, register-based studies, and diagnostic and prognostic biomarker research.

His translational research bridges MRI methodology and clinical trial endpoints in inflammatory joint disease. He is co-chairperson of the OMERACT MRI in Inflammatory Arthritis Task Force since 2002, ensuring that scoring systems developed in academic settings can be deployed reliably across multi-center sponsored trials. His current research encompasses treat-to-target strategies in axial spondyloarthritis (including the TRACE trial, NCT03639740), whole-body MRI of peripheral and axial inflammation in psoriatic arthritis, MRI-based synthetic CT for structural damage assessment in spondyloarthritis, and AI-assisted ultrasound for synovitis assessment. He also works on diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in inflammatory joint diseases.

Prof. Østergaard has extensive experience as principal investigator and imaging methodologist across investigator-initiated and sponsored clinical trials. Named trials from supplied sources include: the TRACE trial (NCT03639740), an investigator-initiated, prospective multicenter study of secukinumab-based dose-escalation treat-to-target strategy in axial spondyloarthritis, with MRI outcomes published in RMD Open (2026) and Arthritis Research and Therapy (2026); the NORD-STAR trial (EudraCT 2011-004720-35; NCT01491815), a multi-arm trial of certolizumab pegol, abatacept, tocilizumab, and active conventional therapy in early rheumatoid arthritis, with 48-week patient-reported outcomes published in The Lancet Rheumatology (2026); the DAPHNE trial, a 2-year Phase IV trial applying whole-body MRI, MRI-based synthetic CT, and CT for assessment of entheses and joints in axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis treated with ixekizumab; and a Phase 2a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of branebrutinib (BMS-986195) for rheumatoid arthritis, published in The Lancet Rheumatology (2026).

He has contributed to the Controlled ARTHUR Trial of robotic ultrasonography and AI-driven synovitis assessment in rheumatoid arthritis (RMD Open 2025). He has also contributed to a study on the effect of apremilast on whole-body MRI of peripheral and axial inflammation in psoriatic arthritis (Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases 2026).

Prof. Østergaard has more than 400 PubMed-indexed publications, with 1,302 research outputs indexed on the Regional Health Research portal, and 868 listed on the University of Copenhagen research profile. His Web of Science H-index is 69 (February 2019 per CV), with citations of approximately 18,000. He has delivered more than 350 invited oral presentations and more than 650 conference abstracts at international meetings. He received EULAR Honorary Membership in 2013. He has received the Nordic Rheumatology Award (1998), Queen Ingrid’s Research Prize (1999), the ESSR Best Abstract Award (2002), the EULAR Abstract Award (2002 and 2003), the Bone and Joint Decade Prize of Honor (2003), the Bechterew Award (2005), EULAR Honorary Membership (2013), EULAR Centre of Excellence (2015–2020, awarded to COPECARE), and Global Excellence in Health (2015–2020, awarded to COPECARE). He has supervised 34 PhD students (23 completed, 11 ongoing per CV). ORCID: 0000-0003-3690-467X.

Prof. Østergaard obtained his MD in 1990 and his PhD in 1996, followed by his DMSc in 1999, all from the University of Copenhagen. He obtained his specialist qualification in Rheumatology in 2002. From 1990 to 2002 he worked as Registrar and Senior Registrar at Hvidovre Hospital, Rigshospitalet, and Hillerød Hospital, mainly in the Departments of Rheumatology and Internal Medicine, and as Research Fellow at the Danish Research Center for Magnetic Resonance and the Department of Rheumatology, Hvidovre Hospital. From 2002 to 2009 he was Professor of Rheumatology at the Departments of Rheumatology at Herlev and Hvidovre. Since 2010 he has been Professor of Rheumatology at the Center for Rheumatology and Spine Diseases, based at Glostrup (until January 2015) and subsequently at Rigshospitalet (from January 2015). He has led COPECARE since its establishment in 2014.