Health for all in focus when KI’s 13 new professors were inaugurated

In his speeches, President Ole Petter Ottersen urged the professors to collaborate across borders and institutions, and with society at large, to help realize KI’s vision of advancing knowledge about life and striving toward a better health for all.

“Dear new professors, you are now in a position to push the frontiers of science, and at the same time, you are in a position where you can impact a whole generation through your teachings,” Ole Petter Ottersen said.

International group

The new professors consist of five women and eight men, of whom seven are from Sweden and the rest from Finland, Spain, U.K., Germany and Austria. In film clips, they described their research areas and personal interests. Several study cells and molecules to better understand the underlying causes of cancer, metabolic diseases and ageing. One uses AI to diagnose diseases while another work with PhD students in Tanzania to reduce traffic injuries. In common, they share a desire to help people by preventing diseases, improving treatment methods and integrating the research in clinical operations.

“We are representing so many disciplines within medical science, but we are united in the aim of improving people’s health,” said Ellenor Mittendorfer Rutz, professor in insurance medicine, who held this year’s professor’s speech.

She cited the roman poet Horatius’ words “dare to think for yourself” in a call to her colleagues to ask tough research questions that challenge contemporary believes and act in ways that maintain the credibility of research in an era of alternative facts.