Current affiliation

      Associate Professor in Gerontology, MD, PhD    

      University of Copenhagen, Department of Public Health, Section of Social Medicine.

      Address: Øster Farimagsgade 5, P.O.Box 2099, DK-1014 Copenhagen K. Denmark.

      Phone +45 35 32 71 22.

      E-mail: [email protected]

Academic education and degrees.

2011:      PhD in Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen

               Thesis: Mobility limitations in midlife and old age: The role of social relations and socioeconomic position.

2008:      Medical Doctor, University of Copenhagen.

Employment

2014 – :                         Associate professor in Gerontology, Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2011 – June 2014:        Assistant professor, Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2011:                             Research assistant (February to June), Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2008-2011:                   PhD-student, Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

Leadership

2020-                 Co-chair of Copenhagen Lifecourse Epidemiology and Aging Research group, Section of Social Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2013-                 Co-PI of the Danish Intervention Study of Preventive Home Visits in collaboration with DrMSc Mikkel Vass

2014-                 Member of steering committee of the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank

2015-                 Co-leader of workpackage B “Trends and trajectories of health and functioning among the oldest old” of the Nordic collaborative project “Social Inequalities in Aging (SIA); health, care and institutional reforms in the Nordic welfare model” with Professor Marja Jylhä, University of Tampere, and Assistant Professor Stefan Fors, Karolinska Institutet.

Research networks

2015-                 NordForsk-funded Nordic collaborative project “Social Inequalities in Aging (SIA); health, care and institutional reforms in the Nordic welfare model”

2013-                 Participate in network for The Danish General Rural Population Study (GERUS) in Lolland Falster.

2011-                 Center for Healthy Aging, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen.

Publications

               31 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, 6 book-chapters, >10 presentations at Nordic and international scientific conferences.

Scientific and professional posts

2022-                  Member of Nordic Scientific Committee and Organizing Committee, 26^th Nordic Congress of Gerontology.

2016-             Substitute, the Study Board for Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

2012-2014    Danish Society of Psychosocial Medicine (member of executive committee)

2011-             Danish Society of Gerontology (member of executive committee, Secretary for executive committee)

Teaching and supervision

Course leaderships

2013-                Course leader of “Gerontology – about the complex issues in dealing with older patients”, elective course for MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

2016-                Course leader of “Gerontology - health and everyday life in old age”, elective course for BSc and MSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen.

2020-                Course leader of “Statistics, Epidemiology and Medical Sociology”, MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

2020-                Responsible for elective courses, MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

Supervision of PhD-students

01.01.2016 – 31.12.2018: main supervisor for 1 PhD-project.

Other scholarly qualifications

2010 “Ulighed i sundhed – årsager og indsatser”, Diderichsen F, Andersen I, Manuel C. Copenhagen, National Board of Health 2011. Member of working group for the chapter in early functional decline.

2013                 “Forebyggelse til bevarelse af alderssvarende funktionsevne hos ældre”. Member of expert-panel invited by National Board of Health and Welfare.

2019                 ”Gode ældreliv med trivsel og sundhed”. National Board of Health 2019. Member of working group 2: Prevention and rehabilitation.

2020                 ”CLASS – a research project on COVID-19’s impact on school teachers work environment, solidarity and experience of infection”, Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, Inge Larsen, Nina Vibe Fuglsang, Charlotte Juul Nilsson. University of Copenhagen, 2020. Collaborator on development of questionnaire survey and coauthor on reports and additional publications.

2022                 ’Evaluation of preventive home visits’. Member of reference group invited by National Board of Health.

Grants

2007               Phd-scholarship from Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen.  

2015               2/3 PhD scholarship, NordForsk

2020               Beckett Foundation, for CAMB2 survey data-collection, 100000 Dkk.

2020               Læge Sofus Carl Emil Friis og Hustru Olga Doris Friis’ legat for CAMB2 survey data-collection, 200000 Dkk.

2022               Helsefonden, contribution to PhD scholarship, 300000 Dkk.

My reserach is focused on how different social circumstances affect aging processes. Physical function is essentiel in order to maintain quality of life and to live independently in old age, and for some individuals physical functional decline begin already in midllife. I am particularly interested in studying:

The association between social relations and physical function in midlife and old age. 

Social inequality in physical function in midlife and old age.

The interplay between healthrelated and social factors for physical function in midlife and old age.

I am currently working on projects on differential vulnerability towards loneliness and poor social relations. 

In a Nordic collaborative study we look into gender- and educational differences in social relations in old age.

I am involved in projects in preventive home visits to older people and their impact on function and use of healthcare services over time.

I also work on projects on inequality in use of healthcare during covid.

Course leaderships

Course leader of “Medical sociology”, MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

 Course leader of “Gerontology – about the complex issues in dealing with older patients”, elective course for MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

Course leader of “Gerontology - health and everyday life in old age”, elective course for BSC and MSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen.

Teaching

“Medical Sociology”, MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

Clinical Social Medicine and Rehabilitation, MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

“Gerontology - health and everyday life in old age”, elective course for BSC and MSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen.

Supervision

First year projects at BSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen.

Bachelor assignments at BSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen.

Master thesis at MSc in Public Health Science, University of Copenhagen.

Bachelor assignments at BSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

Master thesis at MSc in Medicine, University of Copenhagen.

Master of Public Health theses, University of Copenhagen.

 I mainly supervise within the areas of: gerontologiy social inequality in health, sociale relations and health, social epidemiology, medical sociology.