What are your most important tasks as Research Director?
First and foremost, I must provide the framework for a dynamic environment. We need to continue the many strong projects already underway, while also encouraging new initiatives. It is my responsibility to ensure that each employee’s potential is fully realised, and that we recruit and retain talented staff and collaborative partners. I must contribute to the development of medical research within Danish general practice and help generate results that can be translated into clinical practice.
What role does general practice play in healthcare?
General practice has a key role in the healthcare system. The general practitioners are positioned right at the heart of everyday life. And it is important that we do not close in on ourselves. I would like to renew and strengthen collaboration with the local community, and obvious collaborative partners include hospitals, municipal home care services and voluntary organisations.
Which areas are most important to you?
We must engage with topics that are important, relevant and valuable. It is essential to me that all our activities focus on benefits for patients in the local community and for the healthcare professionals delivering care. It takes courage to develop initiatives that cut across traditional sectors — to step outside your comfort zone and enter into new collaborations. A coherent healthcare system, user involvement, a focus on inequality and global initiatives are among the themes I would like us to pursue in our work.
Which values are most important to you?
Commitment and integrity. I insist upon both. You must be willing to make an effort and contribute to the wider community. To me, things gain greater value when they are achieved together. The 'so what' test is absolutely central to me: What difference does this make? Who will benefit from it? We must document that new ways of doing things in primary care actually work. And where we end up — that should be a better place than where we started.
Per Kallestrup, MD, PhD from the University of Copenhagen. He is a professor of global health and family medicine at the Department of Public Health, Aarhus University, a general practitioner and research director at the Research Unit for General Practice in Aarhus. Photo: Halfdan Thorsø Skjerning
Per Kallestrup is an MD and holds a PhD degree from the University of Copenhagen. He is research director of the Research Unit for General Practice in Aarhus and works as a general practitioner (partner) in Skødstrup Lægehus near Aarhus. He is also a professor at the Department of Public Health,t Aarhus University. His work focuses on global health and the role of primary care. His research interests include global health, family medicine, public health and infectious diseases. Prior to joining the Researh Unit for General Practice, he worked at several hospital departments and served as a medical consultant to organisations such as the Red Cross and Euro-Center USA. He has had several stays abroad, including Spain, USA, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Nepal. His native language is Danish, and he is fluent in English and Spanish. He is married to Lisbeth, with whom he has three children.