Michael Baggesen Klitgaard will be the new head of the Department of Public Health
In future, Professor Michael Baggesen Klitgaard will head the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University. He believes that the department has great academic potential, and he is particularly looking forward to getting to know the staff and leading the department through upcoming changes.
Facts about the new head of the Department of Public Health
- Field of research: Primary area of research is public policy, welfare state institutions as well as equality and inequality.
- Teaching area: Has taught public policy, public administration and welfare state institution reforms. Was named Lecturer of the Year at the Department of Political Science and Public Management at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense in 2011.
- Previous jobs: Was employed as a professor of political science at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense from 2012 to 2020 and as an assistant professor and associate professor at the same university from 2004 to 2012. Was head of the Department of Politics and Society at Aalborg University from 2020 to 2024, where he will continue to be employed as a professor until 30 November 2024. Has spent a year as a visiting professor at Harvard University.
Michael Baggesen Klitgaard is a professor of political science, and his research is on public policy. Among other things, he has management experience from a position as the head of the Department of Politics and Society at Aalborg University, and he is looking forward to taking up his new position in Aarhus on 1 December 2024.
Moves at the interface between health science and social science
With his background in political science, Michael Baggesen Klitgaard is well aware that he has a different starting point academically than many of his new staff and colleagues.
"I’ll approach the task with humility and respect for the academic environments, and I know that I have a lot to learn. This also means that close dialogue and sparring with the academic environments is crucial for me and the other members of the department management team so that we can make good and informed decisions," he says and continues:
In the interface between health science and social science lie many critical and important issues that are absolutely crucial from a public health perspective. I also believe that public health has great potential in many of the agendas addressed in the government's proposal for a new healthcare reform, for example, and I’m looking forward to helping realise this potential."
Exciting academic profile and relevant management experience are big advantages
Dean Anne-Mette Hvas from the Faculty of Health at Aarhus University is pleased that Michael Baggesen Klitgaard has accepted the head of department position.
"I'm delighted that a unanimous appointment committee have chosen Michael Baggesen Klitgaard as the new head of the Department of Public Health. Michael has both an interesting academic profile and relevant management experience, and I’m sure that he’s the right person to head the department in the coming years. I very much look forward to working with him,” she says.
The future head of the Department of Public Health was born in Aalborg in 1971 and lives in Odense. He is married to Trine Baggesen Klitgaard, who is an educational consultant, and together they have a daughter and two sons.
Michael Baggesen Klitgaard takes over from acting Head of Department and Professor of Health Promotion Helle Terkildsen Maindal, who has held the position since 1 January 2024.
Contact
Dean Anne-Mette Hvas
Aarhus University, Health
Email: dean.health@au.dk
Professor and future Head of Department Michael Baggesen Klitgaard
Aarhus University, Department of Public Health
Telephone: +45 40 22 76 49
Mail: au77067@uni.au.dk