Greenland center for health research

About

Greenland’s Centre for Health Research (GCHR) at the Institute of Health & Nature was inaugurated at a meeting in Nuuk of the Danish-Greenlandic Society for Circumpolar Health in October 2008.

Objectives

The aim of the Centre is to enhance cooperation between researchers from other countries and health professionals in Greenland, to facilitate research cooperation within Greenland, and to facilitate the interaction of researchers from other countries with the Greenland community at large. The Centre is active in teaching at all levels from classroom teaching of nursing students to supervision of PhD students. In a longer perspective, the Centre will work for the establishment of data archive and archive of specimens collected in Greenland.

Vision

The Centre’s vision is to improve the health status in Greenland through initiation and coordination of health research.

Mission

• Increasing coordination among research institutions
• Developing, exchanging, disseminating and applying scientific knowledge
• Creating national and international networks
• Building local capacity through PhD programs and mentoring
• Improving community involvement and local partnerships

Advisory board

• Gert Mulvad, MD (chairman) - Greenland center for health research
• Anna Kleist Egede (vice chairman) - Institute of Health and Nature 
• Aviaja Siegstad - Chief Medical Officer
• Henrik L. Hansen - National doctor
• Nike Berthelsen - Ministry of Health
• Nuka Mette-Marie Larsen - Ministry of Education (Research), Culture, Sports and Church
• Lene Seibæk - Institute of Health and Nature
• Assigned: Michael Lynge Pedersen - Steno Diabetes Center Greenland

Partnership & network

The Centre works to forge links between research centres, independent scholars and students as well as health professionals in Greenland. GCHR is organised within the Institute of Health & Nature at University of Greenland. We collaborated with the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources on building project for the Centre. The Centre has signed Memorandum of Understanding with Canadian Institute for Circumpolar Health in Yellowknife (North West Territories) and the UArctic.

The Centre cooperates with:

• Centre for Care Research at the Arctic University of Norway (UiT)
• Arctic Transatlantic Telehealth Research Network

Furthermore, GCHR is co-organisation of NUNAMED, part of Thematic Network on Health and Well-being in the Arctic under University of the Arctic, and member of the Circumpolar Health Research Network.

If you would like to be part of our network of researchers, you are welcome to send us an e-mail to [email protected] containing your name and areas of interest.

PhD programme

PhD students:

• Paneeraq Noahsen, started 1 October 2017: "Thyroid function and autoimmunity among populations in Greenland with 10 and 20 years follow-up". Main supervisor: Stig Andersen
• Mette Mørup Schlütter, started 1 October 2017: "Living with uncertainty in old age – an ethnographic exploration of the experience of old age in Greenland". Main supervisor: Lise Hounsgaard
• Nadja Albertsen, started 2020: "Cardiac Arrhythmias in Greenland". Vejleder: Stig Andersen
• Julie Flyger Holflod, started 2020: "Implementation of best practice models in treatment of alcohol and other addictions in Greenland". Vejleder: Christina Viskum Lytken Larsen
• Ivalu Katajavaara Seidler, started 2020: "Trajectories, risk factors and risk patterns for youth suicide in Greenland - A systematic approach based on registries and surveys". Vejleder: Christina Viskum Lytken Larsen
• Hjalte Larsen, started 2020: "Undersøgelse af hjertesvigt i Grønland" ("Study of heart failure in Greenland"). Vejledere: Marit Eika Jørgensen & Michael Lynge Pedersen
• Mie Møller, started 2021: "Aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greenland". Vejleder: Anders Koch
• Nick Duelund, started 2021: "Vision Screening in Greenlandic Children". Vejleder: Marit Eika Jørgensen
• Maja Hykkelbjerg Nielsen, started 1 May 2022: "Patient education in Greenland: Development and feasibility testing of an intervention to patients with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease". Main supervisor Ilisimatusarfik: Lene Seibæk. Main supervisor Aarhus University: Annesofie Lunde Jensen. Co-supervisor Ilisimatusarfik: Michael Lynge Pedersen
• Mads Mose Jensen: "Sleep Apnea among high risk groups in Greenland". Supervisors: Preben Homøe, Marit Eika Jørgensen & Michael Lynge Pedersen
• Mads Bjørn Bjørnsen. Supervisor: Aviaja Lyberth Hauptmann
• Emma Vitale
• Mette Malene Motzfeldt Supervisor. Vejleder: Stig Andersen
• Nathalie Demuth Fryd

Completed PhD projects:

• Arnfjord, Steven (2014): "Deltagende Aktionsforskning med Socialrådgivere - Empowerment af Grønlands oversete velfærdsprofession" ("Participating Action Research with Social Workers - empowerment of Greenland's overlooked welfare profession"). PhD thesis, Institute for Nursing and Health Sciences, Ilisimatusarfik / University of Greenland
• Aagaard, Tine (2014): "Hverdagsliv med sygdom – Patienters kulturelle perspektiver på sundhedspraksis i Grønland" ("Everyday Life with Illness - patients' cultural perspectives on health practice in Greenland"). PhD thesis, Institute for Nursing and Health Sciences, Ilisimatusarfik / University of Greenland 
• Todsen, Tobias (2016): "Surgeon-performed ultrasonography – Collecting validity evidence for assessment of abdominal and head & neck ultrasonography skills". PhD thesis, University of Copenhagen
• Bjørn-Mortensen, Karen (2016): "Tuberculosis in East Greenland - Epidemiologic and Genomic Insights into a TB high incidence setting". PhD thesis, Department for Epidemiologic Research and National Reference laboratory for TB and Mycobacteria, Statens Serum Institute
• Mikaela Augustussen (2018): "Palliation til grønlandske kræftpatienter i Grønland og i Danmark" ("Palliation for Greenlandic Cancer Patients in Greenland and Denmark"). PhD thesis, Institute for Nursing and Health Sciences, Ilisimatusarfik / University of Greenland
• Karsten Rex (2019): "Hepatitis among Greenlanders in Denmark and in Greenland, and the effect of chronic HPV infection in Greenland". Læge kombineret med PhD forløb tilknyttet Aalborg Universitetshospital / Grønlands Center for Sundhedsforskning; 2014-2019
• Malene B. Demant (2019): "Effekten af øredræn - et randomiseret kontrolleret studie blandt børn i Grønland. The SIUTIT Trial" ("The effect of ear drainage - a randomized controlled study among children in Greenland")
• Trine Jul Larsen (2022): "Diabetic eye disease in Greenland"
• Christine Ingemann (2023): "Putting families and local professionals at the heart of implementation research: A qualitative implementation study on Greenland’s universal parenting programme MANU 0-1 Year"
• Anna Maria Anderson (2023): "Investigation of atopic dermatitis in Greenland; distinct genotypes, phenotypes and immunotypes"

PhD committee

PhD committee of the Institute of Health & Nature (Ilisimatusarfik) consists of:

• Lene Seibæk (chair), professor, PhD, Institute of Health & Nature, Ilisimatusarfik & senior researcher at Aarhus University Hospital
• Aviaja Lyberth Hauptmann, PhD, postdoc., Institute of Health & Nature, Ilisimatusarfik
• Bodil H Blix, professor, PhD, Department of Health and Care Sciences, The Arctic University of Norway (UiT)
• Stig Andersen, professor, PhD, senior consultant, Arctic Health Research Centre, Aalborg University & Greenland Centre for Health Research

Contact

Greenland Center for Health Research

Institute of Health & Nature

Ilisimatusarfik

Manutooq 1, 3905 Nuussuaq

P.O. Box: 1061

E-mail: [email protected]