Lectures and seminars Faculty event: Viktor H. Ahlqvist from IMM and Aarhus University

Title

Donald Trump, Paracetamol, and Autism: Rethinking How We Assess Pregnancy Drug Safety.

Abstract

When medications enter the market, their safety in pregnancy is often unknown. Many pregnant individuals use medicines before pregnancy is confirmed or out of clinical necessity, yet randomized controlled trials are rarely feasible in this population. As a result, evidence relies almost entirely on observational studies, which are highly vulnerable to confounding. Misinterpretation of risks can lead to safe medications being unnecessarily withdrawn, while genuine risks may go undetected or under-communicated. Current approaches are too often slow, costly, and inconclusive. This talk will highlight these challenges and propose solutions to transform the way pregnancy drug safety is evaluated.

About the speaker

Viktor Ahlqvist is a postdoctoral fellow in statistical genetics and precision psychiatry at Aarhus University. He was recently awarded the prestigious Swedish Foundation for Medical Research Fellowship to return to Karolinska Institutet in 2026, where he will continue his large-scale research program on pregnancy drug safety, integrating genomics, causal inference, and computational statistics.

Faculty lunch

Join the faculty event in Wargentin! After the seminar, the faculty lunch will be served in Ljusgården. The faculty lunches are intended for employees at MEB, and a monthly net salary deduction of 260 SEK will be made for those who work here 20% or more. If you have any questions about the lunch or specific dietary needs due to allergies, etc, please contact internservice@meb.ki.se. If you won’t be participating in the lunches for all or part of the spring term, our new routine is that you need to contact hr-support@meb.ki.se at the start of a new term, to be removed from the list. Retroactive adjustments will not be possible.  

Please, check the labelling on the salads not to take special diet foods that were pre-ordered by your colleagues.