Karen Walseth Hara

Karen Walseth Hara is an Associate Professor at the Department of Community Medicine and Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, NTNU. She also serves as a coordinating consultant at NAV Advisory Service Trøndelag and has held roles at St Olavs Hospital and NAV. Her work focuses on cross-sectoral collaboration between healthcare, social security, and workplace systems.

• Education: Cand. med. from NTNU (1994), Doctorate in Community Medicine (2019)

Research interests include occupational rehabilitation, chronic pain management, and improving return-to-work outcomes through structured collaboration between healthcare providers and social security services. Her work emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to address sick leave and disability challenges.

Recent publications explore cross-sectoral collaboration effectiveness, surgical outcomes on work participation, and patient care pathways for pain management. She has contributed to books on social security medicine and public health policy.

• Key projects: Samsnakk collaboration model, Expert@Work initiative
• Grants: Multiple research projects funded through NTNU and national health initiatives

Affiliated with the National Competence Service for Complex Symptom Disorders and leads the Work and Health program under NTNU-NAV collaboration.