- Press Release
Klazine van der Horst appointed Head of the School of Health Professions
28.03.2023 The University Board of Bern University of Applied Sciences BFH has elected Klazine van der Horst as the new Head of the School of Health Professions. She will assume her new role on 1 May 2023, replacing Urs Brügger, who is leaving BFH.
“I am pleased that we have found in Klazine van der Horst such a well-connected and dedicated new Head of the School of Health Professions,” stresses Markus Ruprecht, President of the University Board. “She brings with her several years of leadership experience from both business and higher education environments."
Klazine van der Horst has been working at Bern University of Applied Sciences in the School of Health Professions since 2018. Initially, the 44-year-old headed up the team working on Applied Research and Development in Nutrition and Dietetics and has additionally been in charge of the school’s research division since 2019.
Seven years at the Nestlé Research Centre in Lausanne
Before she joined the University of Applied Sciences, Klazine van der Horst spent some seven years in the private sector. She started off in 2011 as a consumer behaviour scientist at Nestlé in Lausanne, before taking over the programme management of the Sustainable Nutrition Research Programme two years later. In 2017, she became a group leader at the Nestlé Research Centre in Lausanne, which conducted extensive cross-sectional studies on food intake in different regions, among other things. Besides her other responsibilities, she took on the position of deputy head of division.
Klazine van der Horst studied in Nijmegen, Maastricht and Rotterdam. She holds a master’s degree in Health Sciences, Health Education and Health Promotion, a master’s degree in Public Health, and gained her PhD at Erasmus University in Rotterdam in 2009. She then completed a postdoc at ETH in the field of consumer behaviour.
“I am looking forward to contributing my knowledge and experience to the further development of BFH and the School of Health Professions,” says Klazine van der Horst. She will take up her new role on 1 May 2023 as successor to Urs Brügger.
The School of Health Professions
The BFH School of Health Professions is based in Bern and Basel and is divided into four divisions: Nutrition and Dietetics, Midwifery, Nursing and Physiotherapy. In addition, the BFH School of Health Professions operates the Institute of Health Economics and Health Policy, the Competence Centre Participatory Health Care, the Competence Center Interprofessionalism and the Services Department of Health Professions. The divisions of the four health professions offer four bachelor’s and four master’s degree programmes, as well as applied research and development activities, continuing education and services.
In 2022, 1,676 students studied at the school of Health Professions, 86% of whom were women. This makes it the biggest school at BFH. Last year, 357 bachelor’s degrees, 91 master’s degrees and 217 continuing education diplomas were awarded. The school employs around 340 people.
