Professor Anders Ekbom was a distinguished Swedish epidemiologist whose leadership profoundly shaped clinical research at Karolinska Institutet and beyond. Born in 1947, he studied medicine at Lund University and graduated from Uppsala University in 1977, later becoming a specialist in general surgery in 1984. He began his scientific career in epidemiology during the late 1980s under Professor Hans-Olov Adami's supervision, following his mentor's research group to Karolinska Institutet in 1997. Ekbom was appointed full professor at Karolinska Institutet in 1999 and established the Clinical Epidemiology Unit (KEP), a unique entity bridging academic research and clinical practice at Karolinska University Hospital that reflected his fundamental belief in research anchored in clinical reality.
Ekbom's scholarly contributions spanned multiple domains including inflammatory bowel disease, cancer epidemiology, and the methodological application of Swedish population registers. His research leveraged Sweden's exceptional healthcare data infrastructure, particularly the Multigeneration Register which he championed as a vital resource for epidemiological investigation. With over 600 publications and more than 83,000 citations, his work demonstrated exceptional impact through rigorous methodological approaches that connected population-level data with individual patient care. He pioneered integrative frameworks that transformed how researchers utilize national healthcare registries while maintaining scientific rigor and clinical relevance.
Beyond his research program, Ekbom held significant leadership positions including Head of the Department of Medicine at Karolinska University Hospital from 2007-2015 and service as Vice President of Karolinska Institutet. He founded the Stockholm Research School in Epidemiology for Clinicians, which cultivated generations of physician-scientists and strengthened the critical link between clinical practice and research methodology. Ekbom played instrumental roles in international collaborations, particularly Nordic epidemiological studies, and served on high-profile committees including the Swedish Corona Commission and the investigation of research fraud in the Jon Sudbø case. His enduring legacy encompasses the research infrastructure he developed, the ethical standards he championed as Karolinska's first research ombudsman, and his unwavering commitment to ensuring epidemiological research directly informs clinical practice and healthcare policy.
