KTH Great Prize to Johan von Schreeb
Johan von Schreeb, professor of Global Disaster Medicine at Karolinska Institutet, is awarded the KTH Great Prize 2024 "for his efforts to reduce suffering in the world".
‘With unfailing expertise and presence, he sees the people, the risks, the context, the vulnerability and the opportunities to help those whose lives have been shattered somewhere in the world. His efforts, on the ground, through coordination or as a researcher, alleviate the suffering of war and natural disasters. It also instils a belief in the humanity in all of us. Johan von Schreeb is a very worthy recipient of the KTH Great Prize.’ This is the motivation for the 2024 laureate.
“I am very proud to receive the KTH Great Prize 2024. It is an honourable prize; looking at the list of previous laureates, including my own doctoral supervisor Hans Rosling, it feels fantastic to now be included in that group. I think is important that the value of combining research, working in disaster areas, policy work and education is highlighted, because that's how my team and I have always operated,” says Johan von Schreeb, professor of Global Disaster Medicine at KI, research group leader for the group Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Responses, and director of the Centre for Health Crises.
Present in disaster areas
At KI, Johan von Schreeb's work is characterised by a mix of research, policy work, teaching and fieldwork. Johan von Schreeb describes his greatest motivation as being present in disaster areas in various ways.
One example of this motivation is that he is on assignment for WHO, the World Health Organisation, in Italy when the prize is announced,
He is there to classify an Italian field hospital under the WHO's EMT (Emergency Medical Teams) programme, a programme he helped develop. From there, he will travel on to Beirut to help with international relief efforts.
KTH Great Prize
The KTH Great Prize was established following an anonymous donation to KTH in 1944. Today, the prize money amounts to SEK 1.5 million and it is to be awarded to a person who "through epoch-making discoveries and the creation of new values as well as through ingenious applications of the findings gained in the areas of practical life promotes Sweden's continued material progress, or a person who, through scientific research, has found particularly valuable principles or methods that are useful for applications, who furthers the above-mentioned purpose, or a person who, through artistic efforts, exerts a powerful influence especially on the mental life of his own people."