| Name | Soren Ventegodt |
|---|---|
| University | Quality of Life Research Center |
| Country | Denmark |
| Position | Editorial board member |
Soren Ventegodt was born in 1961. His father was a historian specialised in maritime history and co-editor of the large Gyldendal Danish Encyclopaedia, his mother a nurse with a master degree in French. When Søren was 10 years old his younger brother Jesper died in a terrible drowning accident, which awakened Søren’s spiritually and he soon became interested in philosophy, science, sport and arts. At age 11 years, he started to write poetry, play music and read books on chemistry and at age 13 years he had his own chemistry lab in the family basement, which he continued to develop though his teenage years.
Gifted with a special talent for science he entered the University of Copenhagen at age 18 years and after studying chemistry, philosophy and finally medicine, he entered the research field of theoretical biology. During his last years at the university he developed a highly controversial theory of quality of life (QOL) and the state of consciousness as the primal factors causing disease including cancer. His research in quality of life soon became popular with the general public and in 1992 the Pharmacist Foundation of 1991 awarded him, while still a medical student, a grant of 600,000 Euro for his research in quality of life and health. The University Hospital in Copenhagen (Rigshospitalet) and the late pediatric professor Bengt Zachau-Christiansen helped him to establish the Quality of Life Survey using the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort 1959-61 as the sample for the research. This way the Quality of Life Research Center (QOLRC) was established in 1993 at the University Hospital. In 1994 this institution became one of the first independent QOL Research Centers in Northern Europe and moved to its present location in the center of old Copenhagen with Søren as its director.
In 1997 the Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine was established. More than 200 peer reviewed scientific papers have now been published, making the QOLRC one of the worlds most productive centres of new medical knowledge in the field of clinical holistic medicine – “quality of life as medicine”. In 2003 the Scandinavian Research Institute for Working Life Quality (NFA) was established in Oslo, Norway based on the ideas, books and materials produced by Soren Ventegodt. In 2004 the Nordic School of Holistic Medicine was established at the QOLRC. He also participated in establishing the International Society for Holistic Health (ISHH) in 2004. In 2006 he became director of Nordic Campus, Interuniversity College, Graz.
Soren Ventegodt is today the author of more than 10 popular books (some of them best sellers) and hundreds of papers and articles in magazines and scientific journals. He is often used as a speaker on QOL and holistic health throughout the Nordic countries. Through more than 1,000 presentations and lectures at most of the universities and large companies in Denmark he has made 100,000 Danes understand the fundamental quality of life concepts. After more than 1,000 presentations in the national medias, from the nine a clock news to national TV- and radio programs and the front pages of the leading news papers during the past 14 years, the Danish society at large now seems to have assimilated the key message: that you can improve your QOL and thus prevent disease and even improve your health and ability if you are sick, unhappy or poorly functioning.
