Precision medicine at the centre during German state visit
On 8 September, the German President, H.E. Frank-Walter Steinmeier and H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf visited Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital.
The themes of the president's three-day visit to Sweden were innovation, sustainability, and democracy. During the visit to Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska Hospital, the visitors were invited, among other things, to a lecture on precision medicine by Anna Martling, professor of surgery at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, chief physician and colorectal surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital.
"With the serious introduction of precision medicine in healthcare, it is possible to provide the right treatment at the right time to each individual patient. It will reduce suffering and save lives," Martling says of the subject, specifically requested by the German delegation.
Precision Medical Centre Karolinska is a joint initiative from Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital that develops solutions for a sustainable, broad implementation of precision medicine in an academic healthcare environment.
Björn Zoëga, Hospital Director of Karolinska University Hospital, addressed the German delegation and King Carl XVI Gustaf about the recent task of caring for patients with COVID-19. Karolinska Institutet's President Ole Petter Ottersen also gave a speech, where the topic was knowledge building as a basis for working with difficult medical situations both now and in the future.
"Collaboration and good relationships are and always will be essential in science. Germany and Sweden have intensive research cooperation that has been very important, not least now during the pandemic. I look forward to this cooperation continuing in the future and that we, together with colleagues in other countries, can strengthen our preparedness for future pandemics," says Ole Petter Ottersen.
Lars I Eriksson, professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and chief physician at Karolinska University Hospital, also participated.