Royal patron for Karolinska Institutet's 200th jubilee

[Press Release, 17 March 2009] As Sweden's only medical university, Karolinska Institutet contributes continually to new medical discoveries that save lives and relieve suffering. Over the years, five of these discoveries have been awarded a Nobel Prize. Next year, Karolinska Institutet is celebrating its second centenary, and His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustav is to be the jubilee patron.

"We're very honoured by His Majesty's keen interest," says KI president Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson. "The jubilee celebrations give us an opportunity to call attention to all that our researchers and employees have achieved by way of improving human health. Milestones like this are important for learning from the past and for building platforms to take on the challenges of the future."

Karolinska Institutet was founded in 1810 by King Karl XII after the terrible losses suffered by the Swedish army during the 1808-1809 Finnish War against Russia, the objective being to provide urgently needed training for the army surgeons working among wounded soldiers in the field. Since then, Karolinska Institutet has evolved into a modern medical university and one of Europe's largest centres for academic medical education and research. Early confirmation of Karolinska Institutet's leading position in the field of natural science was provided in 1895, when the university was entrusted by the testament of Alfred Nobel to annually select the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

For a press photo of HM King Carl XVI Gustav or Karolinska Institutet president Harriet Wallberg-Henriksson, contact: