Board elected at the General Assembly 31 October 2008

Chair of the board and President:  Jon Øyvind Odland, University of Tromsø

Jon Øyvind Odland is a medical doctor, epidemiologist and specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics, with a 15 year history of research projects in the  new independent states of Eastern Europe, especially Russia. He has a position as Professor of International Health, Medical Faculty, University of Tromsø. His main scientific interests are infectious diseases, contaminants and pregnancy outcome, development of pregnancy care programs in different cultures, use of epidemiological methods in public health services, and global environmental health problems.  

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Deputy chair of the board and Vice President:  Karen Marie Moland, Bergen University College 

Karen Marie Moland is associate professor at Bergen University College and is affiliated to the Centre for International Health, University of Bergen. With a background in nursing and social science, Moland has worked in the intersections between culture and health, primarily with issues related to reproductive health, health systems and HIV/AIDS. She is involved in research and training collaboration with institutions in eastern Africa and has project and research experience from Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania.

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Board members in alphabetical order

Atle Fretheim, Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (independent board member)

Atle Fretheim heads the Preventive and International Health Care Unit at the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health. He is a medical doctor by training and has practiced in Norway and abroad. His research has mainly focused on the implementation of interventions in the health services and the use of research findings in decision making. His main interests are systematic reviews of the effects of interventions, and the conduct of rigorous impact evaluations of health care programmes.

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Solveig Kirsti Grudt, Sør-Trøndelag University College

Solveig Kirsti Grudt, Cand Polit and Public Health Nurse, is a lecturer/assistant professor at Sør-Trøndelag University College. Grudt has worked in the field of international health and research in Colombia where she has been involved in action research and training of community health workers among the Paez Indians. Her master degree was based on work in Colombia. Grudt is involved in the collaboration between the University College of Sør -Trøndelag and the University of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast Autonomous Regions, URACCAN.

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Akhtar Hussain, University of Oslo

Akhtar Hussain is professor at Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine.  His professional background is medicine, epidemiology and behavioural science. His current research interests include nutrition transition and lifestyle related diseases with obesity and diabetes but also under-nutrition related diabetes.  Akhtar Hussain coordinates for EU, Research Council of Norway and NOMA financed projects in Asia, Europe and Africa. He has also been involved in HIV and STDs research in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

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Gunnar Kvåle, University of Bergen

Gunnar Kvåle is professor at Centre for International Health, University of Bergen. Kvåle is a medical doctor and epidemiologist with research experience from work in Norway as well as in low income countries. His research has mainly been in the field of cancer epidemiology, epidemiology and prevention of HIV/AIDS, reproductive health and health policy and systems research.

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Ottar Mæstad, Chr. Michelsen Institute

Ottar Mæstad is a senior researcher and head of the Global Health and Development programme at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen. Mæstad is an economist with research experience within health systems research, environmental economics and international trade. His current research relates mainly to issues of health worker availability, motivation and performance, as well as priority setting in health. The geographical focus is Eastern and Southern Africa.

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Inger B. Scheel, SINTEF (independent board member)

Inger B. Scheel has a PhD in public health and is Research Director of SINTEF's Department of Global Health and Welfare. The research unit works with issues related to health care delivery for disadvantaged groups in low and middle income countries.  The research activities focus on the implementation of complex interventions and their evaluation in terms of effectiveness, acceptability, sustainability and equity. Scheel is currently leading an international research project on the use of lay/community health workers in vaccination programs.

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June Jacobsen Steen, University of Agder

June Jacobsen Steen is assistant professor at Faculty of Health and Sport, University of Agder, Kristiansand.  Steen has background in nursing and public health, has been active in international health research since 1999 and has worked in Botswana for more than six years. She coordinates a student exchange-programme with African countries. She works on her doctoral degree with focus on aids, ethics and human rights in Botswana and is member of a research group on global public health at University of Agder.

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Deputies (in alphabetical order)

Arne H. Eide, SINTEF (Inger B. Scheel)

Arne H. Eide is Vice President Research at SINTEF Health, Professor in rehabilitation at Sør-Trøndelag University College, and Honorary Professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.  He has background from social science and behavioural science. He has 20 years experience from 15 different low-income countries, in particular Southern Africa. His main research interests are in disability statistics, disability studies, rehabilitation and health service delivery.

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Nina Emaus, University of Tromsø (deputy of Jon Øyvind Odland)

Nina Emaus is a physiotherapist and post doctoral researcher presently working with osteoporosis and fracture epidemiology at New South Wales University in Sydney, Australia, til July 2009. She has worked several years in Tanzania within rehabilitation and health education, and is currently involved in a collaboration project between University of Tromsø and University of Malawi, College of Medicine. She has been a board member of Fredskorpset from its establishment in 2000 to 2006.

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Anne Hatløy, Fafo (deputy of Ottar Mæstad)

Anne Hatløy is Research Coordinator and group leader at Fafo, Institute for Applied International Studies, with a focus on the nutrition, health and social indicators. She has her PhD in food and nutrition security in Mali, and 15-20 years experience with implementation and analysis of quantitative and qualitative research projects in developing countries (West Africa, Uganda, Haiti) on nutrition, health, child labour and living conditions.

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Gerd Holmboe-Ottesen, University of Oslo (deputy of Akhtar Hussain)

Gerd Holmboe-Ottesen is a professor in International/Community Nutrition at the Institute of General Practice and Community Medicine, University of Oslo. She has carried out research on nutrition and socio-economic correlates in children, adolescents and adults in developing countries in Africa and Asia, as well as in immigrants in Oslo. She has particularly focussed on the nutritional impact of urbanisation and market integration, and is presently involved in a lifestyle intervention study aiming at preventing type 2 diabetes.

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Elizabeth Paulsen, Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (deputy of Atle Fretheim)

Elizabeth Paulsen is a researcher at The Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services. She has a Master of Public Health degree with a concentration in International Maternal and Child Health. Her background includes work with family planning and HIV/AIDS programs as well as research on adolescent reproductive health in Zambia.  She currently coordinates the Norwegian Satellite of the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care Group which supports researchers in low and middle–income countries to produce Cochrane systematic reviews addressing health systems questions relevant to low- and middle income countries.  

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Ole Bjørn Rekdal, Bergen University College (deputy of Karen Marie Moland)

Ole Bjørn Rekdal is associate professor at Department of Health and Social Science, Bergen University College. His educational background is in nursing and his PhD is in social anthropology. Since 2002 he has been involved in several NUFU- and Research Council of Norway funded projects on health-related issues in East Africa.

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Stephen Seiler, University of Agder (deputy of June Jacobsen  Steen)

Stephen Seiler is professor of sport and exercise science in the Faculty of Sport and Health, University of Agder.  He is a Senior Research consultant for Sørlandet Hospital in Kristiansand.  Dr. Seiler’s research interests include physiological adaptations to exercise and training, and physical activity, physical fitness, and growth among teenagers.  Dr. Seiler also works closely with the city of Kristiansand as the university’s representative in the Public Health Forum, and is actively involved in developing community driven exercise prescription programs to serve the needs of a growing segment of patients with lifestyle related diseases.

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Malvin Torsvik, Nord-Trøndelag, University College (deputy of Solveig Kirsti Grudt)

Malvin Torsvik is assistant professor and international coordinator at Nord Trøndelag University College. He has a background in nursing and teaching from Tanzania for more than nine years. He is currently involved in research and training collaboration with institutions in eastern Africa with focus on diabetes and global health education.

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Anne Nordrehaug Åstrøm, University of Bergen (deputy of Gunnar Kvåle)

Anne Nordrehaug Åstrøm is professor in odontology at the Institute of Clinical Odontology, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Bergen. Her research has focused on epidemiology, public health and behavioural research, primarily within the field of dentistry. Nordrehaug Åstrøm has a long standing cooperation regarding research and competence building with University of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, Muhimbili University College og Health Sciences in Tanzania and Makerere University in Uganda. She is coordinator of the research program “Oral health in a global perspective” and co-researcher of EU  and NUFU funded projects in East Africa.

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