To allow the interdisciplinary fields of healthy ageing and rehabilitation to move closer together, Velux Stiftung is funding 50% of two assistant professorships at the University of Lucerne.
The global population is ageing, and the ongoing demographic shift will impact many aspects of society. It is important to realize that healthy ageing does not equal the absence of any ailment, but rather aims to enable older people to be and do what they value. Nevertheless, more people living longer could translate into an increase in people with chronic disease or disability.
Rehabilitation and healthy ageing both acknowledge that individual health trajectories are heterogeneous, especially in older age when multiple conditions can complicate the matter of what health means. Both aim to provide interventions based on a person-centred approach to enable functional ability which reflects the individual’s abilities and values. It is therefore key to expand our knowledge about how we age and what influences our ageing trajectory. Together with knowledge of rehabilitation care and psychology it could empower people to positively influence their own ageing process and form the basis to develop health care strategies to increase the functional ability and quality of life of older people.
With the contribution of Velux Stiftung, the young Department of Health Sciences and Medicine was able to appoint two assistant professors who will establish the section for rehabilitation. The department contributes a unique combination of expertise in health science, health policy, health economics, health communication, health and social behaviour as well as health services and thereby offers a comprehensive perspective on health and ageing. As a young institution, the University of Lucerne is pre-destined to integrate different approaches to its main research and setting a focus on questions at the intersection of disciplines.
The two assistant professorships in rehabilitation and healthy ageing are funded 50% each by the Velux Stiftung for a period of five years. Both professorships are bridging tenure-track professorships between the University of Lucerne and Swiss Paraplegic Research.
Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation & Healthy Ageing
Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation & Healthy Ageing
Dr. Diana Pacheco Barzallo did her PhD in Economics from the University of Neuchatel (2013) and a MSc. in Economics from the University of Lausanne (2008), with a specialization in Applied Econometrics. After her PhD studies, Diana worked as Scientific Collaborator on projects focusing on Impact Evaluation and Behavioral Economics. She teaches at the University of Lucerne in the MA. of Health Sciences, and at the University of Neuchatel in the MSc. in Applied Economics.
PD Dr. Carla Sabariego is a clinical psychologist and holds a master’s degree in Public Health and Epidemiology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich, Germany. She has completed her PhD in health economics in 2011, with a focus on cost-effectiveness evaluations of rehabilitation programs. Her habilitation, completed in 2016, focuses on the implementation of the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) model as a conceptual framework in clinical rehabilitation and in public health. She completed both her PhD and habilitation at the medical faculty of the LMU Munich.
