Mette Nordahl Svendsen

CV

Education

2004: PhD in anthropology, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

1996: Msc in anthropology (Cand.scient.anth.), Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen.

Prizes and awards

2017 Semper Ardens Distinction by the Carlsberg Foundation

2015 Steven Polgar Professional Paper Prize by the Society for Medical Anthropology for the best article in the journal Medical Anthropology Quarterly

2013 Sapere Aude distinction by the Danish Research Council for Independent Research for the research project “A Life Worth Living: Negotiating Worth in Human and Animal”

2012 Cultural Horizons Prize 2012 by the Society for Cultural Anthropology for the best article in the journal Cultural Anthropology in 2011. 

Current position

Professor and director of the Public Health Study Program, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

Professional Experience

2008-2017 Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen

2005-2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

2004-2005 Project Manager, The Danish Institute of Health Services Research (DSI) (one maternity leave in the period).

1999-2004 PhD student, Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen (two maternity leaves in the period).

1998 Research assistant, Department of Public Health, University of Copenhagen.

Research stay abroad

2015: Department of Anthropology, University of Santa Cruz

2002:  Department of Sociology, University of Lancaster, England.

1994: Fieldwork in Bucharest, Romania.

1992-1993: Erasmus student, Oxford Brookes University, UK.

Primary fields of research

What is a life worth living?
What does the human become in the light of new advances in medical science and technology?

In my research I explore the many ways in which biomedical knowledge production and its translation to the clinic are embroiled in existential questions about the value of life. I take a particular interest in how life is understood and administered in the interface between the laboratory, the clinic, and the public.

My research is based on ethnographic fieldworks and draws theoretically on anthropology, sociology, and science and technology studies. The empirical studies I have carried out concern genetic testing, donations of embryos to human embryonic stem cell research, the use of human subjects in pharmacogenomics research, and the use of the pig and the monkey in experimental research.

I am currently directing the Semper Ardens research project “Personalized Medicine in the Welfare State (MeInWe) funded by the Carlsberg Foundation. This project explores how strategies of tailoring diagnosis, treatment and prevention to individual genetic variability challenge existing ethical, organizational and regulatory frameworks in medicine.

Read more:

http://meinwe.ku.dk  and

http://healthsciences.ku.dk/news/2017/09/the-anthropologist-who-explores-the-ethics-of-personalised-medicine/

Current research

“Personalized Medicine in the Welfare State” (MeInWe), funding from the Carlsberg Foundation (Semper Ardens grant).

“A Life Worth Living: Negotiating Worthiness in Human and Animal” (LifeWorth), funding from the Danish Council for Independent Research (Sapere Aude grant).

”Life at the Margins: Modeling Pigs and Humans in Biomedical Research”, funding from the Danish Council for Independent Research.

“Moral reasoning and social responsibilities in translational medicine”, work package in the research platform NEOMUNE, see http://neomune.ku.dk/, funding from The Danish Council for Strategic Research.

Functions

Director of the Master of Public Health Study Program