Dr Ellen Merete Hagen

I am a consultant neurologist in the autonomic unit at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. I studied medicine at the University of Oslo, Norway, and did my specialist training in Neurology at Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.

During my specialisation, I completed my PhD Thesis: “Traumatic spinal cord injuries – A clinical and epidemiological study” at the University of Bergen, Norway. I was a visiting research fellow for 14 months, at both UCLH and Imperial College London, as a postdoc funded by the University of Bergen, Norway. I was awarded the Investigator Award 2012 Autonomic nervous system disorders at the Congress of the European Federation for Neurological Societies.

During this period I was headhunted to Denmark where I worked as an associated professor at Aarhus University and as a consultant neurologist in spinal cord medicine at the Spinal Cord Injury Centre of Western Denmark, Department of Neurology, Regional Hospital of Viborg where I built an Autonomic Lab and developed a research unit at the Spinal Cord Injury Centre of Western Denmark. I was also a part of the multidisiplinary management team leading the Spinal Cord Unit.

I have a strong interest in autonomic neurology, spinal cord injuries and epidemiology. I run specialist autonomic neurology clinics at NHNN and participate in the specialist autonomic neurology service at NHNN along with my colleagues Dr Ingle and Dr Iodice. 

I also have an interest in electronic health record systems (EHRS) and diagnostic coding. I have experience of different electronic health record systems and the implementation of new systems in both Norway and Denmark. I led the development of a spinal cord injury database which communicates with the electronic health record at the Spinal Cord Injury Centre of Western Denmark and IT Central Denmark Region, Aarhus, Denmark. We also developed our web pages and patient leaflets.

I am a co-supervisor for a PhD student in Denmark studying spinal cord injuries and neuropathic pain. 

Membership:

• Project Consortium: “Regenerative treatment of complete Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury with a surgical implantation of a biodegradable device with FGF1 and nerve grafts” – Leading company BioArtic Stockholm, Sweden. Funded through Horizon 2020
• Member of the American Spinal Injury Association’s Autonomic Committee (ASIA)
• Chair of Special Interest Group in Autonomic NeuroRehabilitation (ANSIG), the World Federation of NeuroRehabilitation (WFNR)
• Member of the Subspecialty Scientific Panel (SSP) on Autonomic nervous system disorders – European Academy of Neurology (EAN)
• Member of the Paediatric Review Panel for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) on the Common Data Elements (CDEs) for Spinal Cord Injury, developing data  standards for clinical research in children and adolescents
• Expert Candidature of European Commission Research and innovationMember of the Editorial Committee of the journal “Spinal Cord”
• Board member of the European Federation for Autonomic Societies (EFAS)
• The Pan-European Paediatric Spinal Cord Injury (PEPSCI) Collaboration – International Paediatric Spinal Cord Injury Research Priorities Project, UK
• I act as a reviewer for many medical journals