AWARD. The diabetes researcher Marcus Lindh, Associate Professor at the Institute of Medicine, was recently awarded the Swedish Society of Medicine’s Jubilee Prize of SEK 150,000. He was awarded the prize for his pioneering clinical tests relating to type 1 and type 2 diabetes with the aim of improving treatments for these diseases.
The award was made at the Swedish Society of Medicine’s Annual Ceremony on 14 November.
“It is a great honor and pleasure to accept this prize, here in this wonderful Institute. The prize was instituted during the 19th century and to be a part of this tradition is a huge encouragement for me and my research team,” says Marcus, who adds:
“It is not often one receives a prize among a gathering of so many experienced professors representing different disciplines. It was an additional pleasure that the prize was awarded on World Diabetes Day. The prize is, of course, awarded to different fields of medicine each year and, this year in particular, it has given me an additional opportunity to stimulate interest in diabetes research. I have similarly been given the opportunity to draw attention to issues which are important for future clinical research in Sweden.”
World-class epidemiological studies
The Swedish Institute of Medicine pointed out in its reasons for making the award that Marcus Lindh has conducted national and international epidemiological studies at world-class level in order to enhance understanding of prognoses regarding diabetes type 1 and type 2 and how the diseases should be treated in order to reduce the risk of damaging organs and achieve normal lifespans.
Marcus Lindh is also a diabetology consultant at the NU Hospital Group in Uddevalla, where he focuses on patients with type 1 diabetes and maintains a special focus on those patients who are difficult to treat as they are known to have the greatest risk of future consequential illnesses from diabetes.
“I go through these patients regularly in order to see how we can achieve an optimal follow-up for them. We are increasingly working on diabetes-related techniques whereby we can even monitor blood sugar values from patient’s everyday life via transfer on the Internet. It affords us the opportunity to increase motivation as well as to improve treatment advice and I believe that we see increasingly positive results from this,” explains Marcus.
Techniques which help in everyday life
There is a constant development of new treatments for diabetes, for example the first insulin pump to be triggered by a glucose sensor was recently approved in the USA and is now about to be part of clinical practice in Sweden.
“Recently one could also, for the first time with type 1 diabetes, note positive results with a certain type of medicine. Sensors which detect the sugar are becoming increasingly diversified, affording us the possibility of finding solutions for increasing numbers of patients,” says Marcus.
He explains that he and his colleagues have several important research projects on the go. Among other things they are working on models to find out how diabetes-related techniques can best be employed for treating patients on an everyday basis, as well as developing sensor-controlled insulin pumps and following up long-term effects from randomized studies relating to sensor treatment.
“Glucose-lowering medicines for type 1 diabetes are also being focused on where we takepart in studies regarding effects of the sugar on patients who have established type 1 diabetes, as well as on how insulin production can be saved in those who have recently become diabetic. We are now also charting sensor technique treatment in patient groups where studies have previously been absent, such as for patients with severe kidney disease,” says Marcus who, among other things, is involved in conducting randomized studies relating to how different diets make it easier to keep a check on the blood sugar.
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM CLAESSEN
PHOTO: LASSE SKOG
