Helle Mathiasen holds a Cand.mag. degree in English and ancient Greek from Copenhagen University and a PhD degree in English from Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, she emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1965. Since that time, she has taught humanities and medical humanities, including literature and medicine, to undergraduate and graduate students at Tufts University, the University of California, San Diego, the University of Massachusetts, Boston College, and the University of Arizona. She has been a resident of Tucson, Arizona, since 1993.

Founder and Director of the Program in Medical Humanities in the University of Arizona College of Medicine (2003-2006), she  has received numerous awards and scholarships from governments and private institutions, including the Ministry of Education in Denmark, Harvard University, Boston College, and the University of Arizona.

She has received several teaching awards from the University of Arizona and has published four book chapters and many invited articles and book reviews with Yale University Press, Dictionary of Literary Biography, Humane Medicine, Family Medicine, American Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Cardiology, Journal of the American Medical Association, Pharos, and Arizona Society of Geriatrics Society Journal. Professor Mathiasen is currently Section Editor for Medical Humanities Perspectives in the  American Journal of Medicine. She has given more than 50 scholarly presentations in Denmark, the United States, Caracas, Venezuela, Taipei, Taiwan, and Sao Paolo, Brazil on topics such as humanities, literature and medicine, medical ethics, medicine in art, the Danish Resistance in World War II and Modern Danish Women Authors.