Margareta Persson and Leif Lundblad to be made honorary doctors at Karolinska Institutet

Every year, Karolinska Institutet confers honorary doctorates on individuals who have made significant scientific achievements or otherwise contributed to research and development. This year, the titles are to be awarded to Margareta Persson and Leif Lundblad for their important work in the fields of disability rights and medical innovation. 

Margareta Persson - member of parliament and author 

Margareta Persson (born 1950) has devoted her professional life to improving the lives of people with functional impairments, her engagement having been catalysed at a young age by personal experience from her childhood – a mother with severe polio.

Throughout her career she has been an advocate for issues concerning rights, accessibility and equal treatment. Among the many posts she has held are chair of the Swedish Disability Federation (now the Swedish Disability Rights Federation), project manager for the history of disability at the National Museum of Cultural History, and chair of a parliamentary commission on public health. 

As a Social Democrat member of parliament (1983–1991), Persson championed improvements to the healthcare services, accessible public spaces and the rights of people with disabilities. 

She has also written a number of influential books on how outdated views have affected the treatment of people with functional impairments and on the history of the disability movement. She is honoured to receive the accolade:

“Above all, the appointment means that all the people in my books who have told their stories about living with a functional impairment gain some sort of redress for how they’ve been treated,” she says. “They’re the ones who should become honorary doctors. The history of disability has been sadly ignored and I hope that this honorary appointment will help to draw attention to these issues.” 

Leif Lundblad – entrepreneur and patron 

Leif Lundblad (born 1938) is an entrepreneur and inventor with over 400 patents in a wide range of fields. He is perhaps best known as the father of the banknote dispenser found in ATMs, which revolutionised cash-handling around the world. 

Besides his entrepreneurship, Lundblad has had a long-standing interest in medical research, and over the years his generous donations to Karolinska Institutet have funded research in a great many fields, such as pain disorders and Alzheimer’s disease.

He has also introduced a new research donation model: 

“Normally, you donate a sum and the researchers report back when it runs out,” he explains. “Instead, we hold regular meetings with the researchers, where they present their results and describe their plans for the next stage of their research. This allows us to keep up with the research process and donate as it progresses. This is our way of putting our experience as entrepreneurs and inventors to use.” 

Lundblad has also founded ESBRI (the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute), donated to the AI Project at KI and financed professorships in entrepreneurship and innovation. He describes his appointment as recognition for his efforts: 

“Our researchers need to link arms with business and industry so that research leads to new patents, solutions and products, thus creating new jobs, companies and, above all, export opportunities,” he says.

The new honorary doctors will receive their degrees at Karolinska Institutet’s conferment ceremony in Stockholm City Hall this spring. 

“I wish my dad had been alive, he would’ve been so proud,” says Persson. “He only got to do six years of elementary school, but if he’d had an education, I’m sure he could’ve been a professor.”