About me
I am a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist specializing in the human perception of pain, placebo effects and long-term pain conditions. I lead an interdisciplinary research group at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS) at Karolinska Institutet.
My scientific goal is to understand the cognitive mechanisms and brain pathways involved in the generation and regulation of pain in humans.
Faculty positions
2019 - now Associate Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
2014 - 2019 Assistant Professor, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden
2013 - 2017 Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School, USA
Other merits
2022 - now Deputy Head, Neuro Division, CNS, Karolinska Institutet
2022 - 2022 Visiting Professor, University of Oxford, UK
2021 - now Board Member, Strategic Research Area Neuro (StratNeuro)
2019 - now Pro Futura Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (SCAS), Sweden
2015 - now Board Member, International Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS)
Teaching portfolio
Currently teaching
Medical Program
2021 - now Cognitive Neuroscience, Basvetenskap 4, Modul 4, Karolinska Institutet
PhD-course
2022 - now The Science of the Placebo Effect, Karolinska Institutet
Education
Postdoctoral education
2010 - 2013 Harvard Medical School / Mass General Hospital, Boston, USA
Doctoral education
2005 - 2009 PhD Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Basic education
2000 - 2005 MSc Clinical Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Academic honours, awards and prizes
Selected publications
Lalouni M, Fust J ... Jensen K. Augmented pain inhibition and higher integration of pain modulatory brain networks in women with self-injury behavior. Molecular Psychiatry, 2022, 6, 1-8.
Gedin F, Blomé S ... Jensen K. Placebo Response and media attention in randomized clinical trials assessing cannabis-based therapies for pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open, 2022;5(11):e2243848.
Kastrati G, Rosén J ... Jensen K. Genetic influence on nociceptive processing in the human brain – a twin study. Cerebral Cortex. 2022 10;32(2):266-274.
Ellingsen DM, Isenburg K ... Jensen K ... Napadow V. Dynamic brain-to-brain concordance and behavioral mirroring as a mechanism of the patient-clinician interaction. Science Advances, 2020 Oct 21;6(43):eabc1304.
Stridh A, Pontén M, ... Jensen K. Response to Placebo among men with Erectile Dysfunction in Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor Trials: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Network Open. 2020 Mar 2;3(3):e201423.
Jensen K, Kirsch I, ... Curie A. Certainty of genuine treatment increases drug responses among intellectually disabled patients, Neurology, 2017, 88(20):1912-1918.
Jensen K, Kirsch I, ... Ingvar M. Classical conditioning of analgesic and hyperalgesic pain responses without conscious awareness. Proc Natl Acad Sci (PNAS) 2015, 112(25):7863-7.
Jensen K, Petrovic P, ... Kaptchuk TJ. Sharing pain and relief: Neural correlates of physicians during treatment of patients. Molecular Psychiatry, 2014, 19(3), 392-398.
Jensen K, Kaptchuk TJ, ... Kong J. Nonconscious activation of placebo and nocebo pain responses. Proc Natl Acad Sci (PNAS) 2012; 25(39): 15959-15964.