Norwegian National Headache Centre

The centre offers instruction to medical students through lectures and clinical practise, and in courses offered to general practitioners, specialist candidates and other health personnel.

The centre's physicians also see and treat approximately 400-500 patients per year. Patient treatment in itself is not a specific task of the centre, but the centre's physicians work with patients in their capacity as employees of St. Olavs Hospital. Clinical practise is also important in maintaining and developing medical expertise, in teaching other doctors and students, and in recruiting patients for clinical research.

Comprehensive  research on headaches has been the centre's top priority. Since its establishment in 2000, the centre has graduated 4 PhDs in association with cooperating divisions and laboratories. During this same period, the centre's physicians have been the primary authors or co-authors on more than 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, of which 95 per cent are international. The centre's physicians have also written a number of book chapters, given a series of lectures at international and national congresses and meetings, along with a long list of radio and TV interviews.

In 2004, the centre created a headache biobank for genetic analyses that includes a great deal of patient clinical data. The centre also works in partnership with other divisions and departments in Trondheim and a number of national and international research groups (Denmark, English, Finland, Georgia, India, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany and the USA), as well as in an EU research project and in a World Health Organization initiative on headache.

The centre works cooperatively with both St. Olavs Hospital (Division of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology), and the Department of Neuroscience, NTNU.