Lund University
Kári Stefánsson, professor at the University of Iceland and CEO of deCODE genetics, has been awarded one of the Nordic region’s most prestigious medical awards –Eric K. Fernström Foundation Nordic Prize. His work has revolutionized our understanding of genetic variation and its relationship to health and disease.
Award citation: “Kári Stefánsson has revolutionized our understanding of how genetic variations influence the risk of common diseases and how these variations arise in the human genome.”
Over the past few decades, Kári Stefánsson has become one of the leading researchers in population genetics. Using groundbreaking methods that combine genetic data, health records, and genealogical data from the Icelandic population, he has significantly advanced our understanding of how genetic factors affect the risk of disease. His research has also shed light on why individuals may respond differently to the same treatments. Kári Stefansson’s work has not only left a deep imprint on his field but has also had a significant global impact, advancing the development of genetic research.
Kári Stefánsson studied medicine and earned his PhD at the University of Iceland. He was previously a professor of neurology, neuropathology and neuroscience at Harvard University, was a professor of neuropathology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts and has also held leading positions at the University of Chicago. He is currently a professor emeritus at the University of Iceland.
In 1996, he founded the Icelandic biotech company deCODE genetics, a subsidiary of Amgen since 2012, which has been a pioneer in the use of population genetics. By collecting genetic material from a large portion of the Icelandic population, Kári Stefánsson has enabled research in entirely new ways on how certain gene variants influence traits such as the risk of disease, and how evolutionary processes shape genetic diversity. This research provides valuable insights into human ancestry, origins, and why certain population groups run a higher risk of developing specific diseases. His work has also led to the discovery of genes and gene variants associated with the risk of disease and conditions such as cancer, diabetes and schizophrenia.
“Kári Stefánsson has conducted truly unique and world-leading research that has provided crucial new knowledge for a range of diseases. For example, his work has given essential insights into how Alzheimer’s disease develops, facilitating the development of new treatments,” says one of the Eric K. Fernström Nordic Prize committee members Oskar Hansson, professor of neurology at Lund University.
Link to interview with the awardee Kári Stefánsson (Lund University, Faculty of Medicine).
Each year, the Eric K. Fernström Foundation at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University, awards the Eric K. Fernström Nordic Prize SEK 600 000 to a prominent medical researcher from one of the Nordic countries. The Foundation also awards a prize of SEK 100 000 to “young, particularly promising and successful researchers” at the six faculties of medicine in Sweden. The six local Eric K. Fernström prizes and the Nordic Prize will be awarded at the popular science event Research Day in Lund on 6 November, this year under the theme “Chromosomes and Culture – On the Importance of Gender for Health.”