Congratulations to Dr Josefine Hirschfeld on being awarded the Prestigious Academy of Medical Sciences Grant.

Josefine Hirschfeld is an Academic Clinical Lecturer in Restorative Dentistry at the Dental School. She commenced specialty training in Restorative Dentistry at the Birmingham Dental Hospital in April 2016 and has a special interest in periodontology. She undertakes research in the fields of oral immunology and oral microbiology, focussing on the causes and possible new treatments of periodontitis. Specifically, Josefine investigates the functional behaviour of neutrophils, which are crucial innate immune defence cells migrating into the periodontal tissues, in periodontal health and disease.

The Academy of Medical Sciences ACL Starter Grant is extremely competitive and we extend our congratulations to this talented young clinical scientist. The AMS grant will enable Josefine to investigate the migration behaviour of neutrophils within the periodontal tissues and to explore their contribution to tissue damage during inflammation. Shedding light on the immunological causes of periodontitis can also help us understand the inflammatory mechanisms in other chronic destructive inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and to develop new therapeutic approaches and preventive measures in the future.