She sees herself as an ambassador for the university throughout the hospital region.
”Course leadership for our medical students is definitely my most important job now”, says Kerstin Landin-Wilhelmsen, new professor of medicine.
Kerstin Landin-Wilhelmsen wants medical students to be more visible in the medical services. During the autumn she toured all seven Western Götaland and Halland hospitals with which the university now cooperates, meeting the physicians who are supervisors.
”We have to raise our supervisors’ status. Many of the doctors I met are very committed. It means much to them to be part of the Academy’s work. When I got to the meeting in Borås 60 physicians were sitting there. What joy to see their interest!”
With her new professorship she can spend more time on research and cut down on her work with endocrine patients. This year she has 122 internal-medicine students, considerably more than last year.
”Having in-service training makes great demands on us and there are good models for our future physicians in the hospitals in Borås, Alingsås, Varberg, Lidköping, Kungälv, Skövde and NÄL”.
Started out as a gymnastics teacher
Kerstin Landin-Wilhelmsen grew up in Kalmar, studied to be a certified gymnastics teacher, worked some years in a school before moving to Lund to study medicine. While working in the Malmö cardiac intensive unit she was offered a job including bone research in Göteborg. ”Perfect for you as a gym teacher” the professor said.
“I was set to be a cardiologist, but I immediately altered course and double-specialized in internal medicine and endocrinology. That’s life”, she says with a broad smile.
Landin-Wilhelmsen became a consulting professor in 2002, managing among other things to introduce what she calls a hormone packet into the World Health Organization, WHO, MONICA study with 38 participating countries. For 20 years she has also had patients at the bone clinic. In another many-year project she started, women with osteoporosis have been given growth hormones. A follow-up is now in progress and the result can be compared with data from the MONICA study.
“Granted, these are many major projects, but they cross-fertilize one another. I’ve worked double for long periods, seldom getting home before eight. But my husband understands that research is a way of life. He’s a researcher, too, and he’s also good at running our home.
Vitalizing meetings
As Kerstin Landin-Wilhelmsen describes her research career, it becomes clear how chance has steered her path. Like when she wrote a teachers’ manual that attracted much attention on how to organize a cycle camp school and thanks to this became the Society for the Promotion of Cycling in Sweden’s ambassador in the USA. This led to her staying there for a year.
She also seems to have enormous will-power and endurance for carrying through projects. Meeting people, especially from other countries, adds zest to her life. And this is also why she likes to supervise lots of doctoral students from abroad.
What else have you got in hand?
”A new study of the parathyroid gland. And also I’m still responsible for the national care program for women with Turner’s syndrome. This involves extensive work with doctors in eight disciplines at all the university hospitals in Sweden. The international guidelines are largely based on our work.”
Kerstin Landin-Wilhelmsen enjoys sharing her experience, which is perhaps why she is so comfortable supervising doctoral students. She wants to teach them to be independent, and her advice to them may sound like this:
”Always be aware of circumstances and what’s going on in the community. That’s when progress comes. As a doctor you must never stop being a detective. Ask questions and go on thinking. The patient must always get a diagnosis. You’ll figure it out, just so long as you stay inquisitive.”
BY: MONICA HAVSTRÖM
Hidden talents: Competed in Swedish Championship high jump when young. Athletics paved the way for a healthy lifestyle and lifelong comradeship. Good voice, has sung in choirs since schooldays. Writes witty texts for doctoral dinners.
