Full house for the new honorary doctors
Peter Visscher (in picture), Edith Heard, and Hugo Katus delivered well-received lectures to a packed audience. Photo: Robin Widing.
Edith Heard, Hugo Katus, and Peter Visscher are the new honorary doctors at the Faculty of Medicine. Before the conferment ceremony, they delivered highly appreciated lectures on their research in a lecture room filled to capacity.
The interest was significant when this year’s new honorary doctors gave their lectures at SciLifeLab Navet the day before the Winter Conferment Ceremony. Edith Heard, Peter Visscher, and Hugo Katus were met with a full lecture room and many interested attendees eager to learn about their successful research.
“The lecture was very exciting, both in delivering my own talk in front of so many interested young individuals who asked questions, but also in experiencing the lectures from the other honorary doctors,” says Edith Heard.
Peter Visscher agrees.
“The expectations for this entire visit have been high. It’s so interesting that the three of us awarded honorary doctorates come from completely different areas and have entirely different knowledge and expertise. It was very interesting to participate in the lectures of the other honorary doctors.”
Hugo Katus lectured on the cardiac injury marker Troponin T, which has contributed to a paradigm shift in cardiovascular medicine. Photo: Robin Widing.
For both Peter Visscher and Edith Heard, the news of being appointed honorary doctors at the Faculty of Medicine came as a surprise.
“It came very unexpectedly, but the surprise quickly turned into a feeling of honour and satisfaction. Uppsala University has such a long tradition, and moreover, it is a university I have had a long and good collaboration with,” says Peter Visscher.
“I was also very surprised when I received the news from Karin Forsberg Nilsson, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine. It is an honour because the university has its long tradition, but also to get to be a part of the very successful present. I will do my best to maintain the good collaboration between Uppsala University and Collège de France and EMBL, which is the organisation I represent,” says Edith Heard.
Edith Heard appreciated the questions from the interested audience. Photo: Robin Widing.
Both were excited about the conferment ceremony the day after the lectures, where the honorary doctor insignias would be awarded.
“I am really looking forward to the hat. I thought that was a fun tradition, of which I had no idea about. But it is so interesting what different traditions exist at different universities,” Peter Visscher remarked.
During the Winter Conferment Ceremony the next day, all three new honorary doctors received their insignias from the promotor Catharina Svensson. In addition, a total of 44 new doctors from the medical and pharmaceutical faculties also received their doctoral hats and diplomas. The promotor for the Faculty of Pharmacy was Sofia Kälvemark Sporrong.
A large and joyful gathering has just received their doctoral insignia. Photo: Robin Widing.
Robin Widing