Main research areas

Zitta Barrella Harboe, MD, is a board-certified specialist in internal medicine and infectious diseases (2017) with expertise in clinical research focusing on vaccinology, immunology, and the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases. She serves as a consultant and researcher at the Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Copenhagen University Hospital, Nordsjælland. Dr. Harboe has extensive clinical experience from various hospitals in Denmark's Capital Region and experience from humanitarian missions in Africa and Asia, working with Médecins Sans Frontières and UN organizations. In 2024, she was appointed clinical professor of infectious diseases, specializing in vaccine-preventable diseases in adults.

Her primary research focuses on vaccine-preventable diseases in at-risk adults, including immunocompromised and elderly individuals. These groups of patients are often excluded from clinical vaccine trials. This exclusion is now being addressed through international efforts to revise the Helsinki Declaration, ensuring better representation of vulnerable populations. Dr. Harboe also conducts research on pneumococcal disease, community-acquired pneumonia, and bacterial invasive diseases.

Potential Conflicts of Interest

• Medical advisor, Statens Serum Institut (pneumococcal surveillance)
• Research collaborations: Yale University (USA) and Center of Vaccinology, University of Geneva

Board Memberships

• Chair, European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) Vaccine Study Group (EVASG)
• Member, Vaccination Council, Danish Health Authority
• Member, Scientific Ethics Committee of the Capital Region of Copenhagen
• Board Member, Graduate Program in Immunology and Infectious Diseases, University of Copenhagen
• Board Member, Danish Infectious Diseases Society

Research Funding

• No funding from pharmaceutical companies producing vaccines.

Current grants:

• Independent Research Fund Denmark (Inge Lehmann Grant, #3162-00031B)
• Helen Rudes Foundation
• Danish Cancer Society (Grant #KBVU-MS R327-A19137)
• Novo Nordisk Foundation (Grant #NNF24SA0090556)
• Danish National Research Foundation (Grant #DNRF170)
• Copenhagen University Hospital, Nordsjælland