The 2024 Göran Gustafsson Symposium: Facing the challenges of addiction

Every year, Uppsala University, together with the Göran Gustafsson Foundation at UU and KTH, invites an internationally prominent researcher in medicine to give a lecture. This year the symposium is organised together with U-FOLD.

The keynote lecturer and this year's Göran Gustafsson Lecturer is Andrew Holmes, Chief at the Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Other speakers confirmed so far are Lotta Borg Skoglund, Håkan Leifman, Mathias Hallberg, Hanna Ljungvall and Fred Nyberg.

Andrew Holmes will give his lecture in English. The other lectures are in Swedish.

Contacts

• Mathias Hallberg, chair of U-FOLD
• Fred Nyberg, senior advisor at U-FOLD
• Agneta Mattsson, event coordinator

Agenda

Introduction and welcome

Anders Hagfeldt, Vice-Chancellor of Uppsala University and Mats Larhed, Vice-Rector of the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Anxiety, trauma and the roads to addiction

This year’s Göran Gustafsson Lecture in Medicine

Andrew Holmes, Chief at the Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Vägar till förbättrad narkotikaklassning

Mathias Hallberg, Professor at Uppsala University, Chair of U-FOLD.

Personcentrerad beroendevård: Risker och skyddsfaktorer

Hanna Ljungvall, researcher in physiotherapy and behavioural medicine at Uppsala University.

Riskabla drogkombinationer och narkotikarelaterad död

Fred Nyberg, Professor Emeritus at Uppsala University, Senior Advisor at U-FOLD.

Den perfekta stormen: Samsjuklighet, diagnoser och droger

Lotta Borg Skoglund, founder of SMART Psychiatry, Affiliated Associate Professor at WOMHER.

Framtidens beroendepolitik – Narkotikautredningen 2.0

Håkan Leifman, affiliated with research at Karolinska Institutet.

Additional speakers are presented continuously.

Our lecturers

Andrew Holmes

Andrew Holmes is Chief at the Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, specialising in neuroscience with a focus on behaviour and addiction. In 2004, he was recruited to the NIAAA, part of the National Institutes of Health, where he studies brain regulation of emotion and cognition using animal models.

Andrew Holmes has obtained numerous awards, including the NIAAA Scientific Achievement Award for “scientists who have made an outstanding contribution to scientific research” in 2022. We are very honoured to present Andrew Holmes as Göran Gustafsson Lecturer in Medicine 2024.

Mathias Hallberg

Mathias Hallberg is Professor of Molecular Addiction Research, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at Uppsala University and Chair of U-FOLD. In his research, Mathias’ research group contributes new knowledge about the impact of addictive drugs on cognitive abilities and has also made important progress in identifying unique analgesics and cognitive enhancers.

Mathias is currently featured in Emma Frans’ podcast A-kursen with the episode Mobil, nikotin, kokain – vad gör oss mest beroende?, which Spotify named the Best Podcast Episode of the Week. At the Göran Gustafsson Symposium 2024, Mathias will provide an update on possible ways to improve drug classification.

Hanna Ljungvall

Hanna Ljungvall is a licensed healthcare curator who combines research in physiotherapy, behavioural medicine and social pharmacy at Uppsala University. After defending her doctoral thesis in May 2021 with a focus on opioid treatment for chronic pain, Hanna has gained extensive experience in clinical work in addiction psychiatry, psychiatry and chronic pain at the Academic Hospital.

At the Göran Gustafsson Symposium 2024, Hanna will present a current overview of risks and protective factors in person-centred addiction care.

Fred Nyberg

Fred Nyberg is Professor Emeritus of Biological Addiction Research and initiator of and Senior Advisor at U-FOLD. In 1993, the government appointed Fred Nyberg as an authorised professor of biological addiction research at the Medical Research Council. This was followed by leading positions in the Swedish government’s Mobilisering mot narkotika and ANDT councils.

In many aspects, Fred has become synonymous with Swedish addiction research and is today a driving force in communicating new knowledge from academia to the surrounding society.

Lotta Borg Skoglund

Lotta Borg Skoglund holds a doctorate in ADHD and pharmacological treatment in comorbidity with harmful use and addiction. Lotta has authored a series of acclaimed books focusing on ADHD and other neuropsychiatric disabilities, including ADHD Girls to Women (ADHD – från duktig flicka till utbränd kvinna), which has been translated into several languages.

Lotta Borg Skoglund is currently the Medical Director at SMART Psychiatry and a frequent speaker whom we are very happy to welcome to the Göran Gustafsson Symposium 2024.

Håkan Leifman

Håkan Leifman is an affiliated researcher at the Karolinska Institute and former director of the Swedish Centre for Alcohol and Drug Education. He was recently involved in the Swedish government’s narcotics investigation, which resulted in several recommendations for how a continued restrictive drug policy can be combined with effective prevention, good addiction treatment and efforts to ensure that no one dies as a result of drug poisoning.

We look forward to hearing Håkan’s report on the ongoing work to implement the investigation in practice.