Academic interests
- Treatment approaches and treatment effects in the addictions
- Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) as treatment for opioid addiction
- Overdoses; causes, mechanisms and effective interventions
- Evaluations of new interventions, with a focus on importance of “local evidence”
- Alcohol consumption patterns and mental health in low- and middle income countries
- Development of research methods in the drug addiction field
- Multidisciplinary research and complimentary methods
- Research leadership
Teaching
- Epidemiology and terminology in the addictions
- Research methodology and dissemination of research results
- The treatment of drug addiction
- Opioid maintenance treatment
- Drug use and pregnancy
- Overdoses and prevention
- Treatment results and long-term outcomes
- Compulsory treatment
- Quality of life in the addictions
Background
Professor Thomas Clausen has his MD from the University of Oslo (2000), and earned his PhD (Dr.med.) also at the University of Oslo (2005). He has worked within the addiction field with academic duties and research as a fulltime University of Oslo employee since 2006, and as a Professor since 2010. He is the head of the research group at SERAF focusing on opioid addiction, overdoses and opioid maintenance treatment (OMT). Since 2016 he has been the Head of the Norwegian Addiction Research centre. During the academic year 2014-15 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Alcohol Research Group (ARG) in Emeryville California, USA. Leads multiple research projects and engages in many national and international collaborations and networks.
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Thomas_Clausen2
Appointments
Professor Clausen serves as the national expert for “drug-related-deaths” DRD-indicator in the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) with annual representation in expert meetings in Lisbon, Portugal.
Collaborations
- Collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) including projects on alcohol consumption patterns in low-and middle income countries
- Collaboration with Europe and American partners (EUROPAD/RADARS) in a joint project monitoring drug consumption patterns among persons entering opioid drug treatment
- Collaboration with Nordic colleagues studying overdoses, and outcomes of opioid maintenance treatment in the Nordic countries and context.
- Ongoing collaboration with the Sørlandet Sykehus, Kristiansand, Norway for outcomes studies from drug-treatment, including coercive treatment, 12-step utilization and Opioid maintenance treatment
- Collaboration with all regional health enterprises in Norway for ongoing annual monitoring of outcomes of opioid maintenance treatment
- Collaboration with the Directorate for Health, Oslo and Bergen Municipalities as a joint effort to distribute nasal naloxone to drug users will be monitored by SERAF
- Collaboration with the ARG in California on alcohol use and consequenses with a focus on low-and middle income countries
PhD-Supervision
Ongoing PhD projects:
Ann Tarja Karlsson; Longacting naltrexone in the treatment of opioid dependence - mental health burden and the role of impulsivity, hyperactivity and inattention.
Espen Woldsengen Haugom; Shared decision making in the treatment of psychosis
Endre Bjørnestad; Lifestyle and drug use among persons in opioid agonist treatment
Øystein Ericson; Overdose prevention with naloxone
Francesca Melis; Quality of life in heroin assisted treatment
Completed PhD-projects
Anne Bech (2022); Mortality during Opioid Maintenance Treatment (OMT) in Norway
Marianne Riksheim (2019); Longitudinal analyses of opioid maintenance treatment outcomes
Adrian Razvan Pasareanu (2019); Coercive treatment in the addictions and long-term outcomes
Ingeborg Skjærvø (2018); Crime and drug treatment: the NorCOMT-project
Desiree Madah-Amiri (2017); Distribution of nasal naloxone to opioid drug users
Ashley Muller (2017); Quality of life, social networks and drug treatment: the NorCOMT-project
Christian Tjagvad (2016); Addictive medication in relation to drug treatment and overdose death
Ingrid A. Havnes (2015); Violence and diversion of prescribed opioids among individuals in opioid maintenance treatment. A complementary methods study of violent crime convictions in a national cohort and qualitative interviews among prisoners
Priscilla Martinez (2013); Alcohol use in special populations in Africa: Data from the World Health Survey and Study on Global AGEing and adult health
Anne Opsal (2013); Involuntarily admitted patients with substance use disorders
Anne Bukten (2012); Criminal convictions among patients in opioid maintenance treatment in Norway. A national cohort study
John-Kåre Vederhus (2012); Addiction professionals’ and substance abuse patients’ attitudes towards and usage of 12-step-based self-help groups
Linn Gjersing (2011); Staff attitudes towards opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) and the associations with treatment