Curriculum

Henrik Bjarke Vægter is Professor in Physiotherapy and Pain Treatment at the Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark and Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Odense, Denmark. He is a leading researcher in the field of pain, non-pharmacological treatments and pro- and anti-nociceptive mechanisms. His primary research expertise lies within chronic pain and interdisciplinary rehabilitation with a particular focus on quantitative assessment of pro- and anti-nociceptive mechanisms in individuals with chronic pain to understand how these manifestations influence outcomes after rehabilitation. Henrik Bjarke Vægter is Head of the interdisciplinary Pain Research Group at University Hospital Odense and he has extensive experience in working in interdisciplinary teams and networks nationally and internationally within this area. He is leading several large scale externally funded projects and randomized controlled trials in clinical practice.

Henrik has published extensively within the field of pain and non-pharmacological treatment, and is author of more than 75 publications in international peer-reviewed journals (2/3 as first or senior author) with several papers published in the top five journals in the pain field (e.g. PAIN, Journal of Pain, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise). His H-index is 26 (Google Scholar).

Henrik has led the development and implementation of 2 electronic clinical registries (PainData and FunkData) including patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures across more than 20 private and public interdisciplinary rehabilitation centers in Denmark, and is now leading the steering group for development of quality indicators in interdisciplinary pain management in Denmark comprising multiple professional disciplines (center leaders, physicians, nurses, psychologist, physiotherapists, secretaries and patient-representatives). Furthermore, he has a strong collaboration with Danish Regions where he is part of the implementation group for the project Value-Based Health Care in high-impact chronic pain.

Henrik is associate editor for Scand J Pain since 2020 and perform numerous ad-hoc reviews for scientific journals, including frequent reviews for top journals within the pain field. He has served as grant reviewer for organizations such as Medical Research Council, UK, Research Council Norway, Auckland Medical Research Foundation in New Zealand and Israel Science Foundation.

Henrik Bjarke Vægter has received research support as the principal investigator or co-applicant from numerous sources including Sygeforsikringen “danmark”, The philanthropic foundation TrygFonden, HelseFonden, Offerfonden, Sundheds- og Ældreministeriet, The Danish Rheumatism Association, Udviklings- og Forskningspuljen, and The Fund for Physiotherapy in Private Practice.

Henrik has a comprehensive teaching portfolio including formal education (Lecturer Training Programme, SDU) and supervision of master’s students (+20), PhD students (5) and postdocs (1) as well as formal educational training in research leadership and management (Project Management and Leadership for researchers at RUC and SDU). He has served as PhD opponent in Denmark, Australia and New Zealand.

Research areas

Chronic Complex Pain