INVITED SPEAKER. As a visiting lecturer in the United States, Magnus Simrén will have the great honor of speaking at Mayo Clinic, a leading institution in his field, this December. Nobel laureates and other top international scientists have previously stood on the same podium.
A special committee chooses speakers for the biennial C. F. Code Lecture. Sir James Black, a Nobel prizewinner who discovered the first effective antihypertensive, is among the earlier lecturers. Charles Frederick Code was an eminent physiologist who studied gastrointestinal function.
Dr. Simrén will be only the fourth European to ever present the lecture. ”I am particularly thrilled by the invitation from Mayo Clinic, which is the international leader when it comes to gastrointestinal disorders,” he says. ”Since that is my specialty, I didn’t hesitate for a second when I heard the news. And I was even more humbled to find out about the giants in the field who had preceded me.”
Dr. Simrén will hold the lecture during lunchtime on December 16 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The audience will consist of both basic and clinical researchers in a number of different fields. Dr. Simrén will be speaking about irritable bowel syndrome, emphasizing both pathological mechanisms and treatment options.
Taking a sabbatical in the United States
Dr. Simrén has been a visiting researcher at the Center for Gastrointestinal Biology and Disease, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, since late summer. He and his family will be spending the next 12 months in the bustling college town.
“The team is outstanding and I couldn’t ask for a better opportunity to focus on research for an entire year,” Dr. Simrén says. “But I will always find my way back to clinical practice. Patients are my lifeline – they constantly challenge me and give me ideas for important new research.”
Dr. Simrén’s wide-ranging studies of irritable bowel syndrome often straddle the fence between basic and clinical research. While acknowledging the need for scientists who devote themselves exclusively to one side or the other, he argues that Sweden needs more people with a dual perspective.
“Clinicians who conduct basic research as members of translational teams are more common in the United States,” he says. “They also maintain a higher profile.”
The invitation from the University of North Carolina arrived at the best possible time for both Dr. Simrén and his family. Yvonne Simrén, his wife and a doctor at the Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, will take the opportunity to work intensively on her thesis. Their three sons will have the chance to experience the American education system at various levels. The oldest one will be studying at the University of North Carolina.
“Each of us had reached a point in our lives where the prospect of living and learning in another country was too enticing to pass up,” Dr. Simrén says.
Dr. Simrén, who is originally from Falköping, completed most of his clinical training at Lidköping Hospital. Toward the end of his residency, he developed a taste for research and moved to Gothenburg. Under the supervision of Einar Björnsson and Hans Abrahamsson, he wrote his PhD thesis in 2001 on irritable bowel syndrome. These days he is a leading international expert on gastrointestinal disorders.
BY: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN.
