CV

Carla Sabariego is a clinical psychologist and holds a master’s degree in Public Health and Epidemiology from the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich, Germany. She completed her PhD in health economics in 2011, with a focus on cost-effectiveness evaluations of rehabilitation programs. Her habilitation, completed in 2016, focused on the implementation of the WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) as a conceptual framework in clinical rehabilitation and public health. She completed both her PhD and habilitation at the medical faculty of the LMU Munich, where she worked as a senior researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Public Health and Health Services Research for 15 years.

From 2011 to 2018 she was a consultant with the WHO in the area of functioning and disability measurement: she mainly contributed to the development, pilot testing and implementation of the “Model Disability Survey” – a dedicated functioning and disability survey – in several countries worldwide. She also participated in the development and implementation of the WHO Community-Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Indicators. From May 2017 to July 2018 she worked at WHO’s Disability and Rehabilitation Programme of the Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention, in Geneva.

Carla Sabariego has participated since 2010 in a range European Commission projects, including EMPOWER (“European platform to PromOte Wellbeing and hEalth in the woRkplace", principal investigator), PATHWAYS ("PArticipation To Healthy Workplaces And inclusive Strategies in the Work Sector", principal investigator), MARATONE (“Mental Health Training through Research Network in Europe”, principal investigator), SYNCHROS (“SYNergies for Cohorts in Health: integrating the ROle of all Stakeholders”, project scientist) and PARADISE (“Psychosocial fActors Relevant to BrAin DISorders in Europe”, work package leader). Due to the long-time work with European Commission projects and WHO, she has a very broad network of collaborators and solid experience in coordinating large projects.

At the University of Lucerne, she was appointed in January 2021 as Assistant Professor (tenure track) for Rehabilitation and Healthy Ageing, and currently heads the Rehabilitation Division and co-heads the WHO Collaborating Center for Rehabilitation in Global Health Systems at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine. Due to her bridge professorship, she also leads the working group on Ageing, Functioning Epidemiology and Implementation, together with Professor Jerome Bickenbach, at the Swiss Paraplegic Research, in Nottwil.

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