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Svala Saduodittor, MD, PhD,
Physician and Therapeutic Area Manager, Sidekickhealth
Executive Secretary for the European Network of Positive Psychology, Reykjavik, Iceland

Svala Sigurödóttir, MD, PhD, is an Icelandic physician who graduated from Aarhus University in 2002. Before medical school, Svala had studied nutrition and biology at the University of Iceland, as well as personal training. She has a diploma in positive psychology from the University of Iceland in 2015 and is currently the executive secretary for the European network of positive psychology (ENPP). Svala has always been enthusiastic about health promotion and preventive medicine, and a holistic approach to treating (preferably preventing) disease. But unfortunately, these areas are not well covered (yet) in the western medical curriculum. Through her studies on positive psychology she was properly introduced to health promotion, salutogenesis and positive health, mindfulness and self-compassion, all of which she feels need to be implemented to the current curriculum of medical studies around the world.

This passion lead her to take a break from her specialisation in primary care medicine and go for a PhD in public health at the University of Iceland and Aarhus University (Denmark). Her focus is on Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for primary care patients (with mild to moderate symptoms of depression and/or anxiety). Alongside the PhD, she is working in digital health, for an Icelandic firm, Sidekickhealth, as therapeutic area manager and medical expert. There she is developing health-promoting remote health care programs for diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and heart failure, using all she has learned, both in med school, public health and positive psychology.

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