Three new honorary doctors at the Sahlgrenska Academy

Sven G Carlsson, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Gothenburg

Sven G Carlsson, who for more than thirty years has worked in a true spirit of interdisciplinary collaboration with the Faculty and later Institute of Odontology, has had a pivotal role in both research and teaching. In the mid-seventies he became a central figure in the long-term collaboration between the Institute of Odontology, the Institute of Psychology and primary care dentistry, the aim of which was to improve the care of patients with dental phobia. Clinical development represented the core of this work, but there was also room for hypothetical research of a more basic and pioneering character. This research came to occupy a leading position at the cutting edge of international developments in the field.
Sven G Carlsson can take much of the credit for introducing healthcare psychology and elements of behavioural science into the teaching programme. His academic achievement has been crucial in lifting the dental phobia research carried out in Gothenburg into a unique and internationally recognised position, and making it a source of pride for the Sahlgrenska Academy.

John A Kanis, emeritus professor of medicine at Sheffield University, United Kingdom

Professor John A Kanis is a recognised international authority in osteoporosis research and has collaborated over many years with several osteoporosis researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy. He is emeritus professor of medicine and director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Metabolic Bone Diseases at Sheffield University, as well as the president of the International Osteoporosis Foundation. The WHO diagnostic criteria for osteoporosis were first established in 1994 under the chairmanship of John Kanis. His own work in the field ranges from basic bone physiology research to the epidemiology of fractures. For the last ten years he has led an international research team commissioned by the WHO to develop a model for calculating absolute fracture risk, and his research material includes basic research data from the Sahlgrenska Academy.
John Kanis will continue to work with the Academy in several of our large osteoporosis studies as well as in a large mammography study. Working with him remains, and will continue to be, extremely important for the prominent position that the Sahlgrenska Academy occupies in international osteoporosis research.

Inga-Britt Lindström, former president of the Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists

Inga-Britt Lindström was the president of the Swedish Association of Occupational Therapists for 30 years, a position she had until recently. In her role as a representative for occupational therapy, she has promoted the development of teaching, research and clinical practice with great dedication. She has made a significant contribution to the development of occupational therapy, which was a training school professional qualification when she started, but which now has its own areas of research, with undergraduate, masters and doctorate study programmes.
When Inga-Britt Lindström became president in the 1970s, occupational therapy was a small and poorly-researched subject. Convinced of the development potential of her subject, her vision was undaunted by the demanding research depth needed to enter academia. She led her troops from the front as she battled to establish occupational therapy at all academic levels, establishing a base for future research. The first advanced course in occupational therapy was launched as an experiment at the University of Gothenburg in 1984. In order to safeguard quality, she encouraged and promoted external pedagogic assessment of the advanced occupational therapy course. Towards the end of the 1990s she led the drive to establish peer evaluation and standard criteria for assessing student essays from the different national centres of education.
The initiatives she took in the process of developing and defining occupational therapy as a field of research included a collaboration with the Department of Theory of Science at the University of Gothenburg. This blossomed into many years of extremely valuable cooperation that defined the paradigm of occupational therapy and developed its research fields. She was also active in establishing an international network of contacts that helped to attract visiting professors in the subject and which inspired theoretical awareness and research.
Her achievements, characterised by enormous social commitment, determination and creativity, have benefited the University of Gothenburg and the Sahlgrenska Academy in particular.

MORE ABOUT HONORARY DOCTORATES
A faculty can acknowledge a worthy individual by making him or her an honorary doctor (doctor honoris causa). An honorary doctorate from the Sahlgrenska Academy is a mark of appreciation for leading scientific and other academic achievement within the Academy’s fields of expertise. Honorary doctorates from the Sahlgrenska Academy are conferred by the faculty boards and will be presented at the University of Gothenburg graduation ceremony on the 30th October.