Christina Bjørk Petersen is Head of Section for Health Promotion and Prevention. She has a Master's degree in Public Health from University of Copenhagen and a PhD in physical activity epidemiology from the National Institute of Public Health, SDU. Christina has gained in-depth insight into the field of public health research through more than 15 years of research experience. Christina is an Affiliated Associate Professor at The National Institute of Public Health, SDU. Christina's primary research area is physical activity epidemiology and interventions to promote physical activity, however, Christina's research also covers a broad range of projects including national health profiles, mapping of activities within local prevention and health promotion activities, priority setting in public health, and implementations and evaluation of public health interventions and initiatives. Christina's focus is on using various scientific approaches, such as epidemiology and intervention, and implementation research, to build the scientific foundation for the development and evaluation of interventions. Christina has several years of leadership experience, leading researchers and teams including strategic development, building partnerships, and project management.
Besides being Head of Section, Christina is also Head of Secretariat of The Intersectoral Prevention Laboratory (TIPL) initiated in 2018 by the Danish Regions.
Selected publications
Bueno SV, Nielsen RO, Kallestrup P, Ryom K, Morgan K, Elsborg P, Petersen CB, Jacobsen JS. Parous women perform less moderate to vigorous physical activity than their nulliparous peers: a population-based study in Denmark. Public Health. 2024 Jun;231:47-54. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2024.03.010. Epub 2024 Apr 15. PMID: 38626671.
Jørgensen A, Toftager M, Eghøj M, Ried-Larsen M, Petersen CB. Heart rate responses, agreement and accuracy among persons with severe disabilities participating in the indirect movement program: Team Twin—an observational study. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 2023; 5:1213655.
Jensen HAR, Møller SR, Christensen AI, Davidsen M, Juel K, Petersen CB. Trends in social inequality in mortality in Denmark 1995-2019: the contribution of smoking- and alcohol-related deaths. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2023 Dec 8;78(1):18-24. doi: 10.1136/jech-2023-220599. PMID: 37451846; PMCID: PMC10715496.
Christiansen L.B., Koch S, Bauman A, Toftager M, Petersen C.B. and Schipperijn J. Device-based physical activity measures for population surveillance—issues of selection bias and reactivity. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living 2023; 5:1236870.
Petersen, C. B., Krüger, C., Guldager, J., Algren, M. H., Jervelund, S. S. & Berg-Beckhoff, G. Are changes in physical activity during COVID-19 associated with mental health among Danish university students? Frontiers in Public Health 2023; 1-8.
Høy, T. V., Jørgensen, A., Andersen, S., Petersen, C. B., Jørgensen, M. B., Grønbæk, M., Sarí, S., Ottesen, L., Hansen, G. I. L. & Holmberg, T. The development of a health-promoting employment intervention with physical activity for young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET): NEXT STEP—on the path to education and job. Pilot and Feasibility Studie 2022; 8, 19 s., 229
Aadahl M, Andreasen AH, Petersen CB, Gupta N, Holtermann A, Lau CJ. Should leisure-time sedentary behavior be replaced with sleep or physical activity for prevention of diabetes? Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2021 May;31(5):1105-1114. doi: 10.1111/sms.13924. Epub 2021 Feb 23. PMID: 33462843.
Jørgensen, A., Petersen, C. B., Eghøj, M. & Toftager, M. When Movement Moves: Study Protocol for a Multi-Method Pre/Post Evaluation Study of Two Programmes; the Danish Team Twin and Cycling Without Age. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 18, 2021
Petersen, C. B., Bekker-Jeppesen, M., Aadahl, M. & Lau, C. J. Participation in recreational activities varies with socioeconomic position and is associated with self-rated health and well-being. Preventive Medicine Reports. dec. 2021,24, 101610.
Petersen CB, Nielsen AJ, Bauman A, Tolstrup JS. Joint association of physical activity in leisure and total sitting time with metabolic syndrome amongst 15,235 Danish adults: A cross-sectional study. Preventive Medicine. 2014;69C(December):5-7.
Petersen CB, Severin M, Hansen AW, Curtis T, Grønbæk M, Tolstrup JS. A population-based randomized controlled trial of the effect of combining a pedometer with an intervention toolkit on physical activity among individuals with low levels of physical activity or fitness. Prev Med. 2012 Feb;54(2):125-30.
Petersen CB, Thygesen LC, Helge JW, Grønbaek M, Tolstrup JS. Time trends in physical activity in leisure time in the Danish population from 1987 to 2005. Scand J Public Health 2010 Mar;38(2):121-8.