Description
The unit was established in 2008. It contains only three academics, of whom two have PhDs and one is a PhD student. The two senior researchers have half-time appointments at Uppsala University and Haukeland University Hospital, respectively.
It is too early to evaluate the group, since it had only been active 2.5 years at the time of self-assessment. Follow-up of previous evaluation is not relevant. There is no Norwegian funding;
the research is financed through Swedish grants to the principal investigator (PI), intended to support her research at Uppsala University, but which is now also used for data collection in Norway.
Scientific quality
Main part of the research uses qualitative methods. It originates from the PI´s three projects at Uppsala University: 1. Genetic counselling (in clinical diseases, e.g. hereditary cancer and cardiac-rhythm disturbance). 2. Intervention against stress in breast-cancer patients. 3.
Psychosocial aspects (attitudes and acceptance) of early prenatal diagnosis. At the hearing, an intention was expressed to start intervention studies.
There is already a lot of collaboration with departments in Bergen (Haukeland University Hospital, Faculty of Psychology) and three Norwegian centres of medical genetics. There is also collaboration with a group in the Netherlands.
The group has published half a dozen papers per year in 2009-2010, mainly covering research performed at Uppsala University (with collaborations), but also some work originating in Bergen. The publication rate is reasonable in relation to the resources, but has, with a few exceptions, occurred in journals which are peer-reviewed, but of minor impact.
Grade: Too early for assessment.
Societal impact
Research in genetic counselling has a great societal relevance. The rapid development in clinical genetics has prompted the development of means to counsel pregnant women, as well as patients and their relatives. Traditionally, genetic counselling has been occupied with rare hereditary diseases with high penetration. Now, the main focus is on disorders with more complex hereditary patterns, involving several genes with low penetration, which makes counselling more complex. Also, handling of results from whole-genome scanning will be a challenge.
Recommendations
group in a rapidly developing field need careful consideration; the resources are too limited to proceed on all routes initiated.
University of Bergen, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
Centre for International Health
Level 1 Description
Centre for International Health (CIH) was established in 1988 directly under the board of UoB, as an interfaculty centre. Since 2008, CIH forms a department within Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry with a mandate to serve as an interdisciplinary and inter-faculty centre in the field of global and international health within UoB. CIH has two main functions:
(1) Undertake high quality research with relevance for and impact on policy; (2) High quality research capacity strengthening in partner institutions in low and middle income countries (LMIC) and in Norway. CIH is organized into thematic research groups to actively focus and develop capacity and capability within certain areas: Child Health and Nutrition Group (CHN); HIV & TB Research Group (HIV/TB); and Global Health: Ethics, Economics and Culture (Global Health). Each research group is led by a senior researcher and the groups include researchers from CIH and other UoB departments, as well as PhD and masters candidates from Norway and collaborating LMICs.
Training programmes on Master and PhD levels for candidates from low, middle and high income countries are established and integrated into a common research school in inter-national health. The Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry (of which CIH forms a department) contributes in two Masters programmes at Muhimbili University, Tanzania: Master in health policy and management, and Master in public health. During the years 2005-10, 51 PhD candidates successfully defended their thesis work. Of these, 42 were non-Europeans, and so far 39 have returned to their home countries, to work at universities, hospitals or ministries of health.
Of the 23 academic staff, 12 are professors working at CIH; all but two are males; the two females are employed at other departments than CIH. CIH faces a problem in funding post-doc positions for Norwegian candidates and, further, lacks female professors.
Funding emanates from several sources, such as core funding from UoB, quota scholarships, and external funding by NORAD, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Research and Education, and from EU and RCN.
The research fields that the different research groups are occupied in are: Translational research; Operational research; Implementation; and Health systems research. The
researchers publish extensively in international peer-reviewed journals, as described further below.
The research groups advice national bodies (ministries, NORAD, RCN) and also international bodies (WHO, Ministries in partner countries). Further, CIH has strong relations and colla-borations with universities and other research organizations in Asia (Nepal and India), and
Recommendations
The establishment of CIH as a department within Faculty of Medicine has contributed to strengthening the focus on international and global health at the faculty and university level.
The external funding has increased considerably over the past few years, but there is a lack of core staff and core funding. Hence, academics from social science, human rights and
advanced statistics are lacking.
This is the leading research centre within international/global health in the Nordic countries, and one of the leading centres in Europe. CIH is able to combine biomedical research with public-health focused activities. Recruitment of more Norwegian PhD students would build competence for the future. CIH should strive to become a centre of excellence to support other institutes within the field.
1. Child Health and Nutrition Group