Legends of allergy and immunology: Niels Mygind

Niels Mygind (1942-2015) has been a real legend in allergy since the 1970's and in common with legends, much about him remains a mystery. Niels studied medicine at the University of Copenhagen. He defended his thesis in 1978 in Copenhagen (1). This arose from his early association with the discovery and introduction of topical intranasal corticosteroids. This interest in nasal pathology led him to start training as an otorhinolaryngologist but he stopped in the first year because he could not tolerate the sight of blood. In addition to the management of what we would now call type 2 diseases, he was very interested in the common cold. He collaborated with Birgitt Whinter and Jack Gwaltney undertaking a number of landmark studies on the pathophysiology and treatment of upper respiratory virus infections (2). Much later in the '90s, he specialized as a pulmonologist and was appointed in the University of Aarhus in Denmark.