Seeking to make drug treatments better and safer
Björn Pasternak uses large national health registers to study how common drugs work in real-life clinical practice – and the risks associated with them. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 8 October.
Text: Karin Tideström, for KI’s installation ceremony booklet 2026
Björn Pasternak researches how different medications work in real-life clinical practice, beyond controlled clinical studies. He analyses health data from millions of patients to ascertain which treatments are effective and safe, and which can entail unexpected risks or side effects.
“This matters because patients often take medications for years, and small risks can affect many people,” he says.
One big research focus at the moment is SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists – some of the newer drugs for cardiometabolic conditions.
His research has identified both benefits and risks of widely used drugs, findings that are used by health authorities and healthcare providers to update guidelines, improve prescribing practices and ensure safer treatments for patients.
“I hope my work helps build a healthcare system where treatment decisions are always guided by solid evidence,” he says.
About Björn Pasternak
Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology at the Department of Medicine, Solna as of 1 October 2025
Björn Pasternak was born in 1980. He took his medical degree at Linköping University in 2007 and earned a PhD from the same institution in 2008. From 2009 to 2016 he was a postdoctoral researcher and researcher at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, Denmark. He is currently director of the Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology at KI’s Department of Medicine in Solna.