Current position

Associate Professor, Epidemiologist, Head of research, Global Health Section, Department of Public Health, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark (2004- )

Past positions

• Consultant to: World Bank, WHO/TDR, Danida (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark) National School Health Programme (Zambia), US-AID (USA), Wellcome Trust/Oxford, University (UK), Khon Kaen University (Thailand)
• Former member of the “Lymphatic Filariasis Task Force Committee, Tanzania” (Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Tanzania)
• Former member of the “Steering Committee for Implementation of National Lymphatic Filariasis Control Programme in Tanzania” (Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Tanzania
• Assistant Professor, UCPH, Denmark (2001-2004)
• PhD student, UCPH, Denmark (1991-1994)

Academic qualifications

• Cand. scient., thesis with main focus on infectious disease epidemiology/transmission of infectious diseases, UCPH, Denmark (1990)
• PhD, epidemiology, interventions, implementation research, mass drug administration, UCPH, Denmark (1995)

Scientific qualifications

• Epidemiologist, Senior researcher
• Head of research, Global Health Section, UCPH, Denmark
• More than 100 peer-reviewed health science publications; appear as first or last author in half of all publications (h-index: 34; i10 index: 71)

Main research topics

Infectious and chronic disease epidemiology, health systems, implementation research, complex interventions, maternal and newborn child health, social media and health. 

Specific research topics

Maternal health, child mortality, health system research, type-2 diabetes, mental health, depressions, drug administration, reproductive health, interactions between health providers and population groups, exposure to gender violence during pregnancy, living with non-communicable chronic diseases.

Ongoing major research projects

• Enabling best possible childbirth care in Tanzania (from 2019). A project financed by Danida/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark. Role: Principal investigator, project responsible
• Living with diabetes in Vietnam (from 2018). A project financed by Danida/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark. Role: Responsible for work package 2 (how people with diabetes use informal support in their daily life and disease management)
• Access to Health Services for Key Populations in Tanzania (from 2017). A project financed by Danida/Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark. Role: Heading Danish research group. Responsible for epidemiological assessment of how people in Dar es Salaam who inject drugs make use of health care, including HIV preventive measures

Present course responsibilites:

Coordinator of course Strategies of health promotion and disease prevention (MSc Global Health)

Teach demographic methods, epidemiological transition, epidemiological methods, Mass-drug administration at courses at MSc Global Health, Master of Disaster Management and Public Health (all programmes hosted by Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen)

Specific topics

• Epidemiological methods
• Demographic transtion
• Epidemiological transition
• Use of Dissability-Adjusted Life Years as a measure for disease burden
• Mass-drug administration
• Health promotion on social media
• Fake-health science, including cognitive bias
• Demographic measures and methods
• Cost-effectiveness models

Development of new teaching/learning approaches 

Contributions to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) hosted at Coursera. org with focus on demographic transition, epidemiological transition, inequity in health, lymphatic filariais and mass-drug administration. https://www.coursera.org/learn/global-health-introduction?irclickid=Tm4XmeXeYxyNR43wQ209ISHVUkAVdY2G2XTI0E0&irgwc=1&utm_medium=partners&utm_source=impact&utm_campaign=226800&utm_content=b2c

Development of online roleplays as a tool to analyse online health promotion and dissemination of fake-health science on social media. https://www.oercommons.org/authoring/54189-health-promotion-and-fake-health-science-on-social   

No conflict of interest. 

Dan Meyrowitsch is an epidemiologist (MSc, PhD), lecturer, and head of research at the Global Health Section, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

He has more than 30 years of experience in teaching, mentoring, and researching global health with a particular focus on epidemiology, health systems, and health promotion in low- and middle-income countries.

Dan Meyrowitsch has lived and worked in Africa and Asia and has served as a principal investigator, coordinator and project manager in several major research projects funded by, among others, the EU and Danida (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark), as well as acted as a consultant for UN organizations and the World Bank.

In his current research, Dan Meyrowitsch primarily focuses on maternal and newborn health, gestational diabetes, and type-2 diabetes in low- and low-middle income countries. This research includes the development and evaluation of new and innovative intervention models, including co-created training and information dissemination, and informal support for people living with chronic illness.

Roles as principal investigator

• Enabling best possible childbirth care in Tanzania. Danida, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark. DKK 12 million. Ongoing. Link to project.
• The climate change - antenatal care study: Co-creating antenatal care. Danida, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark. DKK 10 million. Will be initiated in October 2023

Co-applicant and researcher in ongoing projects

• Gestational diabetes in Vietnam. Danida, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark
• Living together with chronic disease: Informal support for diabtes management in Vietnam. Danida, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark
• Living online with suicidal thoughts
• Understanding how mobility affects forcibly displaced persons’ continuity of chronic disease care (CONTINUITY). Novo Nordisk Fonden, Denmark
• Mass drug administration targeting Onchocerca volvulus in Owabi catchment area in Ashanti Region, Ghana: Determinants of drug coverage and drug uptake. Danida, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark