Elisabeth Darj

Elisabeth Darj, MD, PhD is the first professor in Global Health at NTNU. She is a Swedish physician and by profession obstetrician and gynecologist, and been working clinically and as the Head of Dept of Obs&Gyne at Uppsala University Hospital. She performs research in reproductive health and has contributed in development of academic teaching and education. For 15 years she has focused on various aspects of women’s health, mainly in low-income countries and has generously been awarded for scientific work, pedagogic skills and has received the title "Excellent teacher at Uppsala University".

Global health is a prioritized focus area at NTNU and the Faculty of Medicine and Health, and currently five countries are strategically selected for partnership; Malawi, Nepal, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tanzania. Professor Darj is supervising PhD-, Master-, and medical students in these countries.

Darj has developed a new international two-year Master Program in Global Health. In the first year (2015) 500 students applied to this program. http://www.ntnu.edu/studies/mspuhe/

Regularly every month a seminar in Global Health is held, open for all. In October every year, national and international lecturers are invited to a Global Health Day, and they present interesting speeches in current topics. This has received considerable media attention and reaches now between 300-400 delegates, from Norway and neighboring countries.  http://www.ntnu.no/mh/globalhelsedag

NTNU has received funds, together with universities in Bergen, Oslo and Tromsø, for a National Research School in Global Health for PhD-students. It started in April 2016 and enrolled 80 students to start with. This gives an opportunity for the students to participate in courses performed at a different in universities in the country. http://www.ntnu.edu/web/master-of-science-in-public-health-msph-

Professor Darjs research has been supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Uppsala University, the Research Council of Sweden, the Research Council of Norway, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Liaison Committee between the Central Norway Regional Health Authority (RHA) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) among other financiers.

Member of the Board of the Norwegian Forum for Global Health Research, representing NTNU; Head of the Master Program in Global Health at NTNU; Director of the National research school in Global Health; Leader of the scientific committee for research and development at Dept of Obs&Gyne, St Olavs Hospital; Visiting professor at Uppsala University; Member of the Swedish Medical Association, the Swedish Society of Medicine and the Swedish Association of Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Authorized Medical Doctor in Norway and Sweden.