New senior researcher in CIMT

Astrid is associate professor at the Unit for User Perspectives at the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark (SDU). She has a background in psychology and anthropology and completed her PhD in Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Astrid originates from Belgium, and before coming to Denmark she worked at the University of Exeter Medical School in Great Britain, where she was a member of the institute for health research. Astrid was part of the recognised Patient and Public Involvement Team, where she used innovative methods to ensure that e.g. patients were involved in all steps of the research process. Patient involvement will also be her focus area in the collaboration with CIMT and Odense University Hospital (OUH), i.a. to create an understanding of and implement user perspectives as part of integrated operations at OUH. In the long term, OUH also wants to establish a centre for patient involvement, which will focus on research into patient involvement and implementation of the results from there.

Astrid Janssens herself says about the appointment: "It is very exciting to be part of the work with one of OUH's focus areas for the coming years; namely to create a culture where co-creation is natural for the design and development of both research and daily operations. I am very much looking forward to collaborating with researchers and clinicians here at OUH – both those who already involve patients, relatives and care staff in research, and those who would like to start working with a more involving approach”.

See Astrid Janssen's publications here.