Published: 22-01-2024 12:13 | Updated: 22-01-2024 15:16

Healthcare minister visits KI

KI President Annika Östman Wernerson welcomed Minister of Health Acko Ankarberg Johansson.
Annika Östman Wernerson, President of KI, welcomed Acko Ankarberg Johansson, Minister for Health Care. Photo: Ulf Sirborn.

Minister for Health Care Acko Ankarberg Johansson had a busy schedule when she visited Karolinska Institutet, where she spent an afternoon discussing research conditions and how to create sustainable infrastructures that can increase the interaction between education, research, development and healthcare today and tomorrow.

"We really appreciate the Minister visiting KI and showing such an interest in the opportunities and challenges we have as a leading national and global medical research and education university," says KI president Annika Östman Wernerson

This was Ankarberg Johansson’s second visit to KI as a minister, but the first under the new university management, who attended a dialogue meeting along with experts on the various agenda issues. 

The aim of the meeting was to discuss the conditions governing research and education, highly specialised healthcare and the future supply of talent to the sector. Another important issue was the need for greater crisis preparedness in the wake of the pandemic and priorities going forward. 

KI's report on the pandemic

KI’s Centre for Health Crises gathers together KI’s expertise in the field, and recently published a report entitled "Being better prepared for the next health crisis – lessons from KI during the COVID-19 pandemic".

Portrait of Johan van Schreeb
Johan von Schreeb. Photo: Martin Stenmark.

"In a rapidly changing world, universities need to step up and bring their knowledge and experiences to the table to reinforce the healthcare sector’s preparedness for future health crises, and in order to be ready for this, we have a mission to build the next generation of health crisis experts," says Johan von Schreeb, director of the Centre for Health Crises, who presented its activities and plans for strengthening the crisis preparedness and capacity of the healthcare sector to the Minister.

The dialogue meeting also gave the KI management insight into the Minister’s plans and objectives on such issues as national governance and coordination.