Expertise:
- Medicalisation and overdiagnosis
- Medical ethics and theory of science
- Qualitative research methods
Stefán Hjörleifsson graduated as a medical doctor in 1998. He has worked in general practice since 2001 and he finished his training as a general practitioner in 2011. He holds a bachelor degree in philosophy and is certified trainer in general practice. Hjörleifsson’s doctoral thesis from 2008 has the title Genetics, risk and medicalisation – A case study of preventive genetic technologies in Iceland. Hjörleifsson has been associate professor in general practice at the University of Bergen since 2008 and board member of the Norwegian College of General Practice since 2016. Hjörleifsson is member of the steering committee for the Norwegian Choosing Wisely campaign.
Hjörleifsson is honorary researcher at the University of Warwick. While visiting scholar in Warwick in 2015-2016 he wrote a textbook combining medical ethics, communication and medical theory that was published in 2017 with the title God praksis – Om medisin og etikk (Good practitioners – on medicine and ethics).
Since 2016, Hjörleifsson has been employed as researcher at the Research unit for general practice and scientific coordinator at the Norwegian research school for general practice. He currently supervises projects on depression in general practice, medically unexplained symptoms, overdiagnosis and supervision in general practice training, and in 2018 he has contributed to two grant proposals in the field of depression in general practice.
