Professor Arild Bjørndal is a Norwegian public health physician who, throughout his career, has promoted evidence-based and user-centered practice in health and welfare services, and in public policymaking.
Over three decades, Arild worked with the Cochrane Collaboration and the Campbell Collaboration, including as co-Chair of the Campbell Collaboration's Steering Group (2007-2014). Between 2010 and 2021, he was CEO at the Centre for Child Mental Health in Oslo (RBUP), serving the south-east of Norway.
Arild served as Professor of Public Health at the University of Oslo's Faculty of Medicine from 1996 to 2021, and was also a visiting scholar at Harvard University during this period (2015-2016).
As co-founder and Medical Director of Norway's National Knowledge Center for the Health Services (now part of the National Institute of Public Health), between 2004 and 2010, Arild was responsible for setting up the Norway National Electronic Library for Health. From 2002 to 2004, he was Director of the Knowledge Management Division at the Directorate for Health and Social Affairs. Prior to this, during the 1990s, Arild was Head of Health Services Research at the National Institute of Public Health, later leading the Department of Community Medicine at the same institute.
Arild's research interests include health services research, social medicine, quality improvement in health and social services, meditation-based interventions, and child mental health. He is the author of several medical textbooks and has published more than 200 scientific articles.
Arild has become increasingly engaged in the importance of fostering good mental health for children and young people, and is a passionate advocate for high-quality, evidence-informed support services.
Arild joined CEI in 2022 to establish our Nordic office, based in Oslo.
