Specialist in occupational medicine

Musculoskeletal disorders, mainly upper limb disorders; measurements of biomechanical exposure; job exposure matrices; psychosocial conditions at work and mental health; mercury exposure in small-scale gold mining.

As a follow-up study to the first SHARM-project (Shoulder, arm, hand-project) we are now conducting Sharm-II. In the Sharm-project, we are establishing exposure-response relationships between biomechanical exposure such as repetition and exertion of force and upper limb disorders (eg. carpal tunnel syndrome, impingement of the shoulder), with a focus on sex differences. Exposure assessement is based on technical measurements in 31 jobs (eg. car mechanics, house painters, clerks, laundry workers). Identification of disorders is determined through registers.

Research in psychosocial work factors as risk factors for mental disease (eg. depression) is carried out through a multicenter project, the PRISME project. Here, a large group of civil servants were examined in 2007 and again in 2009 and the prevalence and incidence of depression were determined. The associations between different psychosocial factors and the occurence of depression, exhaustion and perceived stress have been examined as well as the role of cortisol.

I am involved in several intervention projects in the Philippines, Uganda and Mozambique where a mercury-free gold extraction method is introduced as an effective alternative to the traditional method where large amounts of mercury are used with serious health consequences for workers and also residents because of environmental pollution.

I am appointed by the National Board of Health to the Committee of Industrial Injuries

As part of my clinical practise I make specialist reports on patients with claims regarding occupational injuries