Claudia Hanson

I am a professor of health systems research at KI and also hold an Honorary Professor of Implementation Science and Perinatal Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK (https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/hanson.claudia)

I am trained as a medical doctor, have a specialization in Gynecology and Obstetrics, as well as a MSc and PhD in epidemiology from LSHTM. Further, I have a MSc in International Health from Charité, Germany (TropEd).

My career is based on a tripod of knowledge and skills: i) clinician with specialist training in gynecology & obstetrics, ii) implementation and health systems knowledge, iii) epidemiologist and implementation scientists with major experiences in conducting trials. I have a broader interest in health and determinants of health including risks and long-term consequences with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries. I draw from much lived experience on work in the field of HIV/AIDS and reproductive health while living in Tanzania first as a German Development Worker (2001-2003) and later as a project manager for a World Bank financed multisectoral HIV/AIDS project (2005-2007).

My key projects at presents:
2020-2024 ALERT–Action Leveraging Evidence to reduce perinatal Mortality and morbidity in Sub-Saharan Africa (https://alert.ki.se/)
2020-2024 QUALI-DEC Appropriate use of Caesarean section through QUALity DECision making by women and providers (https://www.qualidec.com/en/home-en/)
2024-2028 SISTer’s Care: Co-deSIgn of STillbirth CARE in Benin and Malawi

Key merits and awards
• SIGHT award, October 2019, The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, (10, 000 Euro),
• 2016- Technical Advisor member of several committees of the World Health Organization (WHO) e.g Maternal Mortality Technical Advisory Group
• 2010- Technical Advisor member of the Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO)
• Frequent invited speaker and chair at international conferences
• Frequent reviewer of international grants (Medical Research Councils, Wellcome Trust, etc.)
• Head of the Doctoral Programme in Biology of Infections and Global Health (BIGH) at the dept of Global Public Health

Completed PhD supervision as main supervisor:

May 2026 Mercedes Vila Ortiz “The politics of reproductive health: Power and agency in abortion and childbirth in Argentina”

March 2026 Donat Shamba “A mixed method study to investigate into documentation of health management information data”

Dec 2025 Soha El Halabi “Labour Companionship in Practice: Systems, Perspectives and Pathways to Scale from Eight Low- and Middle- Income countries”

June 2025 Phillip Wanduru “Intrapartum-related adverse perinatal outcomes: Burden, consequences and models of care from studies in Eastern Uganda”

Sep 21 Karen Zamboni “Ready for scale-up? A process evaluation of quality improvement collaboratives for the reduction of newborn mortality in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, India”

March 2021 Diana Faini “HIV incidence, sexual and reproductive health among high-risk young females recruited for participation in HIV prevention trials in Tanzania.”

Nov 2020 Fadhlun Alwy Al-Beity “Effects of the Helping Mothers Survive Bleeding after Birth in-service training of maternity staff. A cluster-randomized trial and mixed method evaluation"

May 2019 Sibone Mkumbi “Changing unmet needs of obstetric services in a changing society”

In addition I supervised 12 students as co-supervisor. At present, I supervise two PhD students as first and seven as co-supervisor.

My main interest lies in implementation science and health systems research – to better understand what works and why to improve the health of women, newborns and children. I am leading several trials to improve the quality of care. In addition, my research looks at finding a better balance between accessibility and quality of maternal newborn care. Weak health systems are often a key reasons why potentially effective and cheap evidence-based interventions and new innovations do not have the impact they should have. Without addressing the key bottlenecks in service provision, the unacceptable high burden of mortality in pregnancy and around birth will not reduce. am leading research to evaluate various approaches and strategies to improve the quality of care in facilities for maternal and newborn health.

See also my research group homepage for more information: Implementation and Quality (IMPAQT) team's research projects | Karolinska Institutet (ki.se)

My main country focus is East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi) but through various collaboration I have a strong network with many countries all over the world.
I have built up a strong network with research institutions – particular in Africa – with Uganda (Makerere University, 3 funded research projects) and Tanzania (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Science, MUHAS 2 funded research projects). My ALERT project includes in addition a partner in Malawi (College of Medicine, now Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) and Benin (CERRHUD). The QUALI-DEC project opens a new collaboration, with strong links with the WHO, and the four countries of Argentina, Burkina Faso, Thailand and Vietnam.

I also have done substantial work within the triangle of Karolinska Institutet, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), London, UK and Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania : 1) my PhD research, 2) the EQUIP study (PI Prof Stefan Peterson) and the 3) INSIST study (PI Joanna Schellenberg) 4) three more projects (Boresha, QUADS and ONGEZA).
I am involved into the very renown Countdown to 2030 collaboration https://www.countdown2030.org/ at LSHTM within this triangle.

I have been teaching throughout various programs with a more limited engagement at present.

• Project management” of the Master’s in Public Health Sciences (3 credits, 2 weeks) 
  https://education.ki.se/programme-syllabus/4FH19?_ga=2.30109887.1693662900.1589707775-624396290.1561457590
• Global Health Practice and Project Management (6 credits, 4 weeks)
• PhD courses; “Pragmatic trials ” and the “Data Quality Assurance within a global perspective”.
• Head of the Doctoral Programme in Biology of Infections and Global Health (BIGH) Doctoral Programme in Biology of Infections and Global Health (BIGH) | Karolinska Institutet (ki.se)
• Scientific coordinator for the Sweden –Tanzania PhD training program in reproductive health (2024 -2029)
• Responsible for the internationalization of the second cycle education