Doris Behrens appointed university professor

In January 2021, Doris Behrens moved from the National Health Service (NHS) Wales to Danube University Krems. Here, she accepted the university professorship for management in health care according to § 98 of the Austrian University Act 2002, and additionally the head of the Department for Economy and Health.

"The healthcare sector in particular must ensure quality as well as safety. This requires continual development, soundly based on mathematical modeling and by establishing innovation. That is why I am pleased to teach and research in the field of management and health research as head of the Department for Economy and Health," Prof Behrens says.

Through her background as an expert in operation research in health care, Behrens' expertise encompasses the practical application of simulation, optimization, and decision analysis. The goal is to create a better understanding of health care in order to improve it continuously, and to support decision-making, for example with regard to the allocation and distribution of resources. Most recently, the private lecturer collaborated in her position as senior mathematician at the Continuous Improvement Centre at the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board with the Gwent Test Trace Protect Service (GTTPS) in combating the pandemic. Among other things, she investigated and evaluated the process of COVID-19 testing in regards of social equity and how to improve its accessibility. In addition, the researcher was part of the intertemporal planning in order to recruit personnel to ensure the GTTPS Contact Tracing system to run smoothly.

About

Doris Behrens holds a PhD in Technical Sciences from the Vienna University of Technology with a focus on Operations Research and Biomathematics. In 2008, she habilitated in Operations Research, and at the same time she obtained her teaching qualification on this subject. Several universities such as the Alpen-Adria University Klagenfurt, Cardiff University and the Vienna University of Technology mark her academic career. She worked as a visiting professor at the University of Ljubljana, the Medical University of Vienna and the Karl-Franzens University of Graz, among others. In 2017, she joined the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, and in 2020 took up the position of senior mathematician at the in-house Continuous Improvement Centre. Currently, she is marginally employed as a senior epidemiologist for the Gwent Test Trace Protect Service.