The Grand Silver Medal 2015 is awarded to Gunnel Biberfeld and Britta Wahren at MTC
The Grand Silver Medal 2015 from Karolinska Institutet is awarded to Gunnel Biberfeld, Britta Wahren and SGO Johansson in special recognition of the outstanding contributions they have made to medical research and Karolinska Institutet.
The medals will be presented at the installation ceremony on 15 October 2015. The medal committee's citations for Karolinska Institutet's Grand Silver Medals in 2015 are as follows:
Gunnel Biberfeld: Photo John Sennett
Gunnel Biberfeld, professor emerita of infectious disease control, especially clinical immunology, is awarded the Grand Silver Medal for her outstanding contribution to research and doctoral education in the area of HIV at Karolinska Institutet. She is one of the pioneers in HIV research, at KI and globally. At a very early stage, she realised the urgent need for research on HIV, and since the beginning of the HIV pandemic she has remained active in this area of research. She has fostered a generation of young HIV researchers at Karolinska Institutet, of which many are now leaders in the field. Gunnel Biberfeld's research into HIV focuses on a global perspective, especially considering her clinical vaccine studies in Tanzania. The research collaboration with Tanzania also includes a comprehensive doctoral program. In addition, Gunnel Biberfeld's studies on the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child in Dar es Salaam, shows the importance of using antiretroviral therapy during both pregnancy and the postnatal period. The results of these studies have formed the basis for Tanzania's national guidelines for the prevention of HIV transmission from mother to child, and they have also contributed to WHO's recommendations in the area.