Dr. Annika Frahsa appointed as Assistant Professor for «Community Health and Health Care Systems» at ISPM Bern

Dr. Annika Frahsa

03.05.2021 – Promoting health in and with communities is a key area in Public Health research and practise. Supported by an endowment of the Lindenhof Foundation, Annika Frahsa has joined the ISPM team starting in May 2021.

Prof. Frahsa leads the research group «community health» and support the ISPM horizontal tier on policy translation and practice impact. The focus of her research is on applying social sciences theories and methods to study the contextual conditions of health in and with communities. Prof. Frahsa obtained a degree in political science (Dipl. Pol.) in 2006 and in 2013 a Dr. phil. from FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. Most recently, she has submitted her habilitation thesis at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, with the department of social and health sciences of sport.

Building upon participatory health research, Prof. Frahsa combines different fields of research: (1) social determinants of health and health disparities, (2) novel approaches to knowledge co-creation, and (3) healthy environments, including community and policy interventions for health-promoting resilient cities.

Prof. Frahsa’s research has been supported by a range of funding agencies, among those SNF, German Federal Ministry of Health, and health insurances. She serves as a member of the advisory board on physical activity promotion at the German Ministry of Health and a process consultant for municipalities within the national program on building health promotion structures by the German Federal Centre for Health Education.

«We are delighted to welcome Prof. Frahsa to ISPM; community health is a foundation of paramount importance in which effective solutions for populations’ health and planetary health need to be designed, directed and implemented. Health is not orchestrated in hospitals but, directly among individuals and their communities.» Says Prof. Oscar H. Franco, Director of ISPM.