Asbjørn Hróbjartsson is a Danish medical researcher. He is Professor of

Evidence-Based Medicine Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. It means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available exte ...

and Clinical Research Methodology at the University of Southern Denmark, as well as head of research at Odense University Hospital's Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. He is the former

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the Danish journal '' Bibliotek for Læger''. He is also affiliated with the Nordic Cochrane Centre in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. He received his Ph.D. in June 2001 from the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, with a thesis entitled ''Are placebo interventions associated with clinically important effects?'' He is best-known for a 2001 article he co-authored with Peter C. Gotzsche on the

placebo effect A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...

. The article reviewed 114 studies comparing placebo treatment to no treatment, and concluded that placebos did not have clinically important effects for any condition, with the exception of self-reported

pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...

and other continuous subjective outcomes. He has also co-authored a subsequent paper on placebo effect research with Ted Kaptchuk and Franklin G. Miller.

References

Living people Danish medical researchers Academic staff of the University of Southern Denmark Cochrane Collaboration people University of Copenhagen alumni Placebo researchers Year of birth missing (living people) {{Denmark-med-bio-stub