Clinical Founders
Professor Hanne Albert PT MSc PhD
Professor Hanne Albert is a leading expert on lumbar disc herniation and Modic changes. In 2013, she published a ground-breaking paper in the European Spine Journal which described a double-blind, placebo-controlled, and randomised clinical trial with 162 patients which demonstrated that an oral antibiotic treatment offered a curative treatment for these chronic low back pain patients by removing the bacterial infection. Professor Albert was awarded the prestigious German Award for Pain Research and Contribution to Medicine for this work and other studies in this space in 2017.
Professor Albert qualified as a physiotherapist and later gained a Masters of Public Health from the Nordic School of Public Health in Gothenburg, Sweden, and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern Denmark in 2004. She worked with Professor Manniche at the University of Southern Denmark from 2000 to 2013, and has been the medical director of the Modic Clinic in Odense, Denmark, since 2013. She was appointed Professor at Rush University in Chicago in February 2023.
Professor Albert is a founding member of Persica Pharmaceuticals.
Professor Claus Manniche MD, Dr. Med
Professor Claus Manniche is one of the world’s leading experts on chronic low back pain. In 1988, he published the results of a clinical trial in The Lancet demonstrating the efficacy of exercise therapy in treating chronic low back pain. This study led to a paradigm shift in the understanding of low back pain and active spine rehabilitation, and its principles still underpin the standard of care for chronic low back pain today. He also developed a Low Back Pain Rating Scale which is still used in research projects around the world.
Professor Manniche graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1982 with a degree in medicine and gained his license to practice in 1985. After gaining a law degree from the same university in 1988, Professor Manniche concentrated on the field of back pain and rheumatology, becoming a specialist in rheumatology in 1994. He was appointed as Professor and Director of the Spine Center of Southern Denmark in 1998.
Professor Manniche is a founding member of Persica Pharmaceuticals.
Mr. Peter J Hamlyn, Consultant Spinal Surgeon
Non-Executive Director and Board Member
Peter Hamlyn is a graduate of University College London, he has practiced as a Consultant Neurological and Spinal Surgeon for over 30 years and has led neurosurgical units as well as academic departments in sport medicine at two London leading university hospitals. He is President of the Brain and Spine Foundation, Chair of the UK Football Association’s Expert Medical Advisory Panel, Medical Trustee of the Grand Prix Trust and Podium Analytics. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the Institute of Sports Medicine and was a key member of the 2012 Olympic Bid Advisory Panel. Peter’s research activity includes a period as Convener of Queen Mary University of London Spinal Cord Injury Group, a £750,000 funded research program, and a grant from the Migraine trust. In addition, he played a key role in achieving £10m funding and National Centre Status for the Institute of Sport Exercise and Health at UCL. Author of a neurosurgical textbook and multiple peer review papers. His clinical work focused on spinal surgery and saw him complete some 2,500 consultations and around 300 procedures a year. His specialist interest in sport saw him working with Premier League football clubs, rugby clubs, and elite athletes from many disciplines including motorsports.
Mr Hamlyn was a founding member of Persica Pharmaceuticals.
Dr. Alan A Jordan PhD
Non-Executive Director and Board Member
Alan Jordan was a founder of the Spine Centre at the University of Southern Denmark where he worked as an associate professor and course coordinator in the Faculty of Sports Medicine & Clinical Biomechanics from 1998 to 2003. Following this, Alan became a Director of the Broadgate Spine & Joint Clinic in London. Alan qualified as a Chiropractor in Toronto in 1979 and later carried out post-graduate research at the University of Copenhagen and in 1997 completed a doctorate in medical research at the Faculty of Medicine, Royal National University Hospital, Copenhagen.
Dr Jordan is a founding member of Persica Pharmaceuticals.