Join as the Faculty of Pharmacy inaugurates three new Professors

In mid-November, Uppsala University invites you to traditional Inaugural lectures, and Thursday 14 November is the time for our Faculty of Pharmacy's new Professors Elisabet Nielsen, Thomas Dorlo and Olof Eriksson to present their ongoing research.

“That our relatively small faculty inaugurates three new Professors for the second year in a row is a definitely a proof of strength. As Elisabet, Thomas and Olof all conduct high quality research in important areas, I also want to take this opportunity to recommend everyone with an interest in science to attend these lectures,” says Dean Mathias Hallberg, who will introduce the speakers in the University Building’s room IV, starting at 1 p.m.

First to enter the podium is Elisabet Nielsen, Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, who will lecture on Optimal use of antibiotics • Human intelligence - help or hindrance? Elisabet obtained her pharmacist degree and holds a doctorate at Uppsala University. In April, she was recruited to the new Professorship in Clinical pharmacy, a central component of the Faculty of Pharmacy's long-term investment in better drug use.

“We are now on site in our new facilities that we share with the research groups in Pharmacoepidemiology and Social pharmacy, where we take on joint challenges but from complementary perspectives. Our team brings expertise on how to optimize drug treatments, and we work team-based and interprofessionally with the individual perspective in focus,” says Elisabet Nielsen.

Thomas Dorlo, new Professor of Pharmacometrics, will lecture with a focus on Ending the Neglect of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Thomas, who earned his pharmacist degree and PhD in the Netherlands, was in 2022 recruited to Uppsala University's Department of Pharmacy, where he joined the largest pharmacometrics research environment of the academic world. Today, Thomas Dorlo leads his own research track with a focus on precision medicine tools against tropical parasitic diseases.

“At the center of my work is what the WHO defines as Neglected Diseases, a description including lack of effective drugs, insufficient knowledge about dosages and infrastructures often incapable of meeting needs of care. These primarily affect poor patient groups in countries where healthcare systems generally face challenges providing the few drugs that are available, and that Uppsala University manifests its ambition to invest in a discipline where academic research is absolutely necessary is very positive,” says Thomas Dorlo.

Thursday's third speaker is Olof Eriksson, new Professor of Drug Development, who will teach us about Digital biopsies • Molecular imaging for diagnostics of life-threatening and chronic diseases. In 2017, Olof was recruited to SciLifeLab and Uppsala University where he currently has a significant role in advancing the Faculty of Pharmacy's already strong position in the increasingly important disciplines of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Radiotherapy.

“Uppsala's PET Center is a cutting-edge facility that opens doors across the world and attracts many exciting projects to our own corridor. Now we are putting all our energy into further consolidating our team while preparing a Phase-2 study of a biomarker we have identified with the potential to enable non-invasive interventions to diagnose and follow-up on cancer and diseases of the liver, lungs, heart and pancreas. So we are definitely facing a very interesting future,” states Olof Eriksson.

text: Magnus Alsne, photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Dep. of Pharmacy a o