Louise von Essen

Professor at Department of Women's and Children's Health; CIRCLE - Complex Intervention Research in Health and Care

Mobile phone:
+46 70 425 07 14
E-mail:
louise-von.essen@uu.se
Visiting address:
MTC-huset, Dag Hammarskjölds väg 14B, 1 tr
752 37 Uppsala
Postal address:
Akademiska sjukhuset
751 85 UPPSALA

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CV:
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Short presentation

  • I am a licensed psychologist and professor in healthcare sciences.
  • I started and I am director for U-CARE, http://www.u-care.uu.se/. The goal with U-CARE is to increase wellbeing among those living with a somatic disease.
  • I am research-group leader for CIRCLE and director for Uppsala Trial Forge Centre (U-TFC), a newly established competence-center at Uppsala University, https://www.uu.se/centrum/u-care/uppsala-trial-forge-centre. The goal with U-TFC is to increase the value of clinical researc

Keywords

  • Childhood cancer
  • clinical trials
  • complex intervention research
  • family
  • feasibility trials
  • guardians
  • mental health
  • parents
  • public contribution
  • recruitment
  • retention

Biography

  • I have a MSc in Clinical Psychology from Uppsala University (UU), I am a licensed psychologist, and have a PhD in Clinical Psychology from UU. I was appointed professor in Caring Sciences with a focus on oncology at UU in 2005. Since 2017 I am a professor in Caring Sciences with a focus on oncology at the Department of Women's and Children's Health, UU. I started the strategic research programme Uppsala University Psychosocial Care Program (U-CARE) for strategic research area Care Sciences, http://www.u-care.uu.se/ and I am its director since its inception. I am leading the research-group CIRCLE and I started the competence centre Uppsala Trial Forge Centre (U-TFC) https://www.uu.se/centrum/u-care/uppsala-trial-forge-centre in 2025. Since 1999 (until 2029) I have received around 67 MSEK in external grants as main applicant and principal investigator mainly from the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Cancer Society, and the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund. I have been principal investigator for a grant from the Swedish Government for U-CARE, around 200 MSEK from 2010 and the principal Swedish investigator for a grant from EU H 2020 for ENTWINE, The European Training Network on Informal Care, 2.5 MSEK 2019-2023.
  • I am associated partner for Advancing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Clinical Trials (EDICT). Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network, Horizon Europe (PI: Dr E Morrissey, University of Galway), start 2026; and for Empowering Caregivers of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders through Media Literacy (MediaCare). MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship, Horizon Europe (PI: Dr E Bei, University of Florence), start 2026.
  • I have published around 180 peer-reviewed outputs, a number of textbook chapters, approximately 160 other publications, and have two intellectual property rights.
  • I have supervised 11 PhD students as main supervisor and 11 PhD students as co-supervisor to examination. I am currently main supervisor for one PhD student and co-supervisor for two PhD students.
  • I have been examiner for approximately 50 PhD theses and opponent at three occasions.
  • I have been member of work-groups for setting priorities for: postgraduate studentships, Vårdal Institute; project funds, UU; ALF project funds, Karolinska Institutet (KI); postgraduate studentships, KI; PhD positions, the National Research School in Caring Sciences, KI; project funds, the Danish Medical Research Council; project funds, VR; international postdoc studentships and Marie Skłodowska-Curie International Career Grant posts, VR; Junior Investigator Award positions, the Swedish Cancer Society; project funds, KI-SFO; postdoc positions, Faculty of Medicine, UU; program funds, KAW, Wallenberg Scholars.
  • I have been a regular member in committées, e.g., the Vårdal Institute Steering Committee for Doctoral Students (2003-08); Regional Ethics Review Committee, Uppsala (2004-06); Electoral college, Faculty of Medicine, UU (2004-13); Committee for Appointing Associate Professors, Faculty of Medicine, UU (2008-11); Board of the Strategic Research Program U-CAN, UU (2010-17); Board of the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy, UU (2011-17); and Committee for Recruitment of Teachers, Faculty of Medicine, UU (2014-18).
  • 2011-19 I was guest professor at Department of Psychology, UU.
  • In 2012 elected member of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Uppsala (KVSU).
  • Expert appointed in 2015 by the Parliamentary Committee on Health and Welfare on research matters regarding: health economics, ethics, individually targeted cancer treatment, significant others and cancer, and equality aspects.
  • In 2015 and 2018 elected member of the Scientific Council for Medicine and Health, The Swedish Research Council (2016-21).
  • Regular member of the Board of Directors at DWCH, UU (2016-June 2026).
  • Since 2005 I am the group-leader for the trans-disciplinary and multi-professional research group CIRCLE-Complex Intervention Research in Health and Care. The group consists of around 25 persons; academics (from various disciplines) and non-academics: professors, senior lecturer, assistant senior lecturer, researchers, PhD students, research assistants, project- and research coordinators, and research partners. Numerous collaborators across the three disciplinary domains of UU; other national and international universities as well as other interest-holders join the group at seminars and other occasions.

For full CV, see above.

Research

  • My research concerns developing, testing, evaluating, and implementing complex interventions.
  • Currently I am principal investigator for projects in Sweden and Tanzania. The aim of one of these is to in Sweden evaluate a psychological intervention for parents of persons treated for cancer during childhood. The aim of another project is to in Tanzania develop an SMS intervention for guardians of children on treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The purpose of the intervention is to help guardians adhere to children's treatment which can improve children's chance to survive the disease.
  • I am also conducting research with the aim to increase value of clinical research.
Louise von Essen

Publications

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Recent publications

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Articles in journal

Articles, review/survey

Chapters in book

Comprehensive doctoral thesis

Conference papers

Manuscripts (preprints)

Reports

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