This year honorary doctorates will be awarded to a professor at Chalmers, the editor-in-chief of The Lancet and a professor from Chicago. They will be appointed at a ceremony in the autumn.
The Board of Sahlgrenska Academy has decided to award Honorary Medical Doctorates to the following recipients:
• Professor Ann-Sofie Sandberg, Mölndal – nominated by Agnes Wold and Agneta Holmäng, among others.
• Dr Richard Horton, London – nominated by Peter Friberg, Gunilla Krantz and others.
• Professor Samuel I. Stupp, Chicago – nominated by Peter Thomsen, Ian Milsom and others.
Belonging to the world’s academic elite
Ann-Sofie Sandberg is Professor of Food Science at Chalmers University of Technology, focusing on biological process technology. She
studied civil engineering at Chalmers and did her PhD in 1982 at the department of clinical nutrition in the medical faculty in Gothenburg, where she became a Doctor of Technology. She was then recruited to Chalmers where she built up the research area for nutrition and food. Today, she is part of the world’s academic elite and is the most cited researcher within her research area.
For many years Ann-Sofie Sandberg has been collaborating with many different research groups at the Sahlgrenska Academy and has established a strong bond within technological and medical research in Gothenburg. Researchers from diverse medical disciplines have taken part in the collaboration, resulting in many joint publications for Chalmers and the Sahlgrenska Academy, as well as joint research grants and dissertations, where students had tutors from both universities. Ann-Sofie Sandberg has had a number of official positions at Chalmers. In all these positions she has worked in a goal-oriented manner to broaden the interfaces between technology and life science research, not least medical research. Through her frequent scientific contacts with the Sahlgrenska Academy, and in her own unique way, Ann-Sofie Sandberg has strengthened the bond between the two research facilities in Gothenburg. She has contributed to making nutrition and functional foods regional strong points.
Defender of human health and integrity
Dr. Richard Horton has been editor-in-chief of The Lancet since 1995. Under Dr. Horton’s leadership, The Lancet has, more than any other journal, focused much of its resources on publishing global health research. Important articles from a global perspective have been
published on climate and health issues, infant and mother mortality, suicide, and more. In his role as editor-in-chief, Doctor Horton is a defender of human health and integrity in general, but in particular, he is a watchdog for human well-being in low and middle–income countries. By publishing the scientific methods used to improve health and minimise sickness and disease in the world, Dr. Horton is making a great difference by spreading knowledge. Dr. Horton is constantly challenging public institutions with fearless arguments in order to improve the health of the world’s population.
Dr. Horton has participated in several conferences and symposiums in Gothenburg, most recently in April 2013, where Sahlgrenska Academy and the University of Gothenburg were involved. Dr. Horton’s medical work bears great importance not only for readers and researchers around the world but also for the Sahlgrenska Academy, which prioritises global health as an important profile area.
One of the world’s leading figures
Samuel I. Stupp is a Professor of Materials Science, Chemistry and Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. Since 2000, he has
been Director for the Institute for BioNanotechnology in Medicine at this university. He is one of the world’s leading researchers in regenerative medicine. His most important contribution in the field is the development of self-assembling organic materials – for which he has received international acclaim. By establishing global international cooperation and exchange projects with the Sahlgrenska Academy, Professor Stupp has had a great deal of influence on the area of regenerative medicine in Gothenburg. He has been active as a lecturer in research schools and international congresses in Sweden, as expert advisor on the Sahlgrenska Academy project “BIOMATCELL VINN Excellence Center of Biomaterials and Cell Therapy”, and has been a member of a critical investigative panel on Swedish research within this area.
In cooperation with three of the Sahlgrenska Academy’s institutions, Professor Stupp’s research group is currently researching neuroregeneration, human cartilage cell differentiation and human mesenchymal stem cell interaction with bioactive nanofibres.
