Tobias Anker Stripp

Tobias Anker Stripp is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Theology, Department of Systematic Theology, and serves as a guest researcher at the University of Southern Denmark's Institute of Health Services Research. He maintains significant affiliations as a research affiliate with Harvard University's Human Flourishing Program and Duke University's Theology, Spirituality, and Health Department, focusing on the epidemiological intersection of faith, health, and existential care. His work bridges theological inquiry with population health research, particularly through Denmark's national health registers.

Education:

• PhD in Health Science (2024) from University of Southern Denmark
• MD (2019) from University of Copenhagen (GPA 10.24)
• Medical authorization (2020)
• Reiki Master certification (2022)

Stripp's research centers on spiritual needs assessment, salutogenic health frameworks, and existential care in secularized societies. His epidemiological studies analyze relationships between religious practice and health outcomes using Denmark's nationwide registries, with particular emphasis on cancer patients, cardiac arrest survivors, and aging populations. He develops psychometric tools like the Danish Flourish Index to measure existential well-being, contributing to global discourse on spirituality in healthcare settings.

His recent publications reveal a strong trend toward register-based epidemiology combined with spiritual care metrics, predominantly in high-impact journals like The Lancet Regional Health and European Journal of Epidemiology. This work establishes methodological innovations in linking questionnaire data with national health registries, creating new pathways for studying faith-health interactions at population scale.

Scientific Awards:

• Duke University Religion, Spirituality, and Health scholarship (2022)
• EliteForsk travel grant nomination (2022)
• University of Southern Denmark PhD Scholarship (2020)

Stripp serves as co-Principal Investigator for the EXICODE project – a DKK 2 million population-based survey involving over 100,000 Danes – examining spirituality and health outcomes. He has secured additional grant funding through Danish research councils and serves as editorial board member for The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, while regularly reviewing for Scientific Reports and BMJ Primary Care. His teaching portfolio spans 100+ hours instructing medical students in ethics, psychiatry, and musculoskeletal disorders, plus PhD-level research methodology training.

As co-founder of med-tech startup STROM at SUND-HUB incubator and director of the Center for Videnskab og Tro (Center for Science and Faith), he leads interdisciplinary teams integrating theological perspectives with clinical practice. Current initiatives include developing existential care frameworks for cardiac rehabilitation and expanding the EXICODE dataset to explore near-death experiences in population cohorts.