AWARD. Last Wednesday, January 27, Jón Karlsson received the Nordic Medicine Prize that was awarded by H. R. H. Prince Daniel at a ceremony in Stockholm.
“Completely fantastic, enormous fun,” says Jón Karlsson about the day.
Jón Karlsson, Professor of Orthopedic and Sport Traumatology, was one of four recipients being awarded during the day. Health promotion is one of the greatest interests of H. R. H. Prince Daniel, who held a spontaneous speech on the importance of physical activity in disease prevention.
“He was well versed in the subject and made a good impression,” says Jón Karlsson.
During the two hour long ceremony, each of the prizewinners gave a lecture on what they have worked on over the years.
“It was a celebratory event with a wonderful atmosphere. After each prizewinner’s presentation, Prince Daniel made several pleasant comments that strengthened the impression made by the lectures,” says Professor Björn Rydevik, Chairman of the Foundation for the Nordic Medicine Prize, that awards the prize in cooperation with Folksam.
Jón Karlsson received the prize for his fundamental research on, among other things, ligament injuries in foot and knee joints. Despite intense clinical work and operating on patients several days per week, he manages to have the time to be a very productive researcher. His list of publications contains hundreds of works and he has supervised some 40 PhD students.
“I have only conducted research on patients, and the prize shows that clinical research is significant. It is an acknowledgement that it is possible to conduct research even if you work long hours with patients,” says Jón Karlsson.
The award motivation states that Jón Karlsson decisively raised the level of clinical research in orthopedics and sports medicine with a large number of well-done prospective, randomized studies, and he has generated significant and clinically relevant evidence-based knowledge that both sports physicians and patients can use to make treatment decisions for sports-related injuries.
The prize is awarded for “particularly prominent scientific endeavors” in areas that are of major significance to human health and illness. The other prizewinners were Lars Engebretsen of the University of Oslo, Roald Bahr of the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and Michael Kjaer of the University of Copenhagen
Jón Karlsson has long been familiar with the other prizewinners and indicates that Lars Engebretsen is something of a personal idol.
