The Quality of Life Research Centre was as one of the first research centres in the world to focus on wellbeing and healing. It was established at University Hospital, Copenhagen in 1990, and formally accepted as a new Quality of Life Research Centre by the hospital in 1993. In 1994 it became an independent research institute, and has remained so until today.
For the first years, Professor Bengt Zachau-Christiansen was the formal director, so in 1991 Søren Ventegodt was appointed as project manager of the huge research project involving dozens of employees and millions of EUROs. In 1994, the centre became independent and Søren Ventegodt was appointed as director; a role he still holds today.
The research centre soon gained great fame in Denmark and the Nordic countries and hundreds of scientific papers as well as dozens of popular books made the research accessible to a broad audience. Research findings appeared during the 90ties more than 1000 times as news stories and backgrounders in all major media in Denmark.
Already in 1990 research in Alternative medicine was approved by the Scientific Ethical Committee as a main aspect of the research called “Quality of Life as Medicine”. In 1996 a Research Clinic for Holistic Medicine was established and in 2000 research was extended into the field of sexology.
The Quality of Life Press was established in 1994, and The Quality of Working Life Institute was established in 1996.
Since 1990 about 10 national and international conferences on quality of life and holistic health have been hosted by the research centre.
Today the centre works as part of a successful international network of researchers in quality of life and holistic medicine. More than 250 scientific papers have been written, of which more than half appear in MedLine/www.pubmed.gov.
Textbooks
A series of textbooks on holistic medicine has been produced during the last decade:
1. Ventegodt S, Kandel I, Merrick J. Principles of Holistic Medicine. Philosophy Behind Quality of Life. Victoria, BC: Trafford, 2005.
2. Ventegodt S, Kandel I, Merrick J. Principles of Holistic Medicine. Quality of Life and Health. New York: Hippocrates Sci Publ, 2005.
3. Ventegodt S, Kandel I, Merrick J. Principles of Holistic Medicine. Global Quality of Life. Theory, Research and Methodology. New York: Hippocrates Sci Publ, 2006.
4. Ventegodt S, Merrick J. Principles of Holistic Psychiatry. A Textbook on Evidence-Based Holistic Medicine for Mental Fisorders. New York: Nova Sci, 2011.
5. Ventegodt S, Merrick J. Sexology from a Holistic Point of View. A Textbook of Classic and Modern Sexology. New York: Nova Sci, 2011.
