The recently merged Department of Dentistry and Oral Health at Aarhus University will be headed by Dentist, PhD and Associate Professor Siri Beier Jensen. She takes up the position of department head on 1 August 2016 and comes from a position as associate professor at the University of Copenhagen.

2016.05.25 | Lise Wendel Eriksen

Siri Beier Jensen takes up her new position on 1 August 2016.

Forty-four-year-old Siri Beier Jensen graduated as a Master of Science in Dental Surgery from the University of Copenhagen in 1998, before spending two-and-a-half years working as a dentist in the private sector. Following this she returned to the University of Copenhagen and began a fifteen-year research career – firstly as a PhD (2006), assistant professor and most recently as associate professor at the Section for Oral Medicine.

Spearheading the merger process

When Siri Beier Jensen takes up her new position at Aarhus University, she will do so not only as the new department head, but also as the head of a completely new department. In December 2015, the Aarhus University Board adopted a proposal for a merger of the Department of Dentistry and the School of Oral Health Care.

"Getting the merger to really come together will be a big and exciting task. It’s not only a question of getting the logistical and practical aspects to fall into place; we also need to get the different cultures to meet and to get the synergy in the collaboration to function. It will be a demanding process, but I’m convinced that it really is the right way to move forward,” says Siri Beier Jensen.

The merger and the new department, which will be called the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health, will be formally established when Siri Beier Jensen takes up her new position on 1 August 2016.

Passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration

Siri Beier Jensen's academic focus is on research into tooth and oral cavity complications resulting from cancer treatment. She will now tone down this research and instead devote herself to leadership in Aarhus:

"In my own research I’m passionate about maintaining close collaboration and knowledge sharing across research groups and disciplines. In my experience, everyone can make a contribution by taking part in interdisciplinary collaboration, and this also strengthens our understanding of the clinical issues, which in turn ends up benefiting the patients," says Siri Beier Jensen and continues:

"So I therefore think it’s both logical and natural to assemble the entire oral health team during the degree programme, which is what will happen at the Department of Dentistry and Oral Health. That is something I really want to be part of, and I’m really looking forward to getting to work together with the managers and employees at the department."

Visionary and ambitious

During her research career, Siri Beier Jensen has, among other things, been group leader for the international, interdisciplinary treatment and research network Oral Care Study Group, Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society of Oral Oncology. The research network carries out systematic literature reviews and uses these as the basis for developing evidence-based clinical guidelines for the prevention and treatment of oral cavity complications arising from cancer treatment. This collaboration has taken its strength from the many different professional approaches, consisting of e.g. specialists within oral care (dentists, dental hygienists, oral medicine and maxillofacial and dental surgeons), oncologists, cancer nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, epidemiologists and biostatisticians.

This experience of interdisciplinary research collaboration combined with her weight of research are among the reasons why a unanimous appointment committee choose Siri Beier Jensen as the new department head.

"I’m very pleased and confident about having Siri Beier Jensen as the head of the new dental degree department. The merger is taking us down completely new paths here in Denmark, which demands a visionary, ambitious and academically competent leader. We have found the perfect candidate for the job, and I’m looking forward to working with her," says Dean Allan Flyvbjerg from Health, Aarhus University.

Siri Beier Jensen takes over as department head following the two acting heads at the Department of Dentistry and the School for Dental Assistants, Hygienists and Clinical Technicians respectively, Eva Karring and Anne B. Christensen.

Further information

Dean Allan Flyvbjerg

Aarhus University, Health

Mobile: (+45) 5177 9548

dean.health@au.dk