Katerina Chatzidionysiou

Senior consultant Rheumatologist. Head of the Clinical Trial Department Rheumatology Unit, Karolinska University Hospital

Associate Professor of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet

Leading the clinical arthritis team in the Rheumatology Department. 

Clinical and epidemiological research; clinical trials; Rheumatology; Rheumatoid Artrhritis; Treatment; Optimizing treatment of chronic arthritides; Rheumatic immune-related adverse events; onco-immunology

My main research interests are: 

• to understand the immunological mechanisms behind multidrug resistant rheumatoid arthritis and to improve treatment of this subgroup of patients
• to optimize the use of already existing antirheumatic treatments and treatment strategies for early and established rheumatoid arthritis by conducting several investigator-driven clinical trials
• to understand the immunopathology, clinical phenotype and optimal treatment strategies of chronic arthritis induced by immun-checkpoint inhibitor treatment 

- Main supervisor for 4 registered PhD students (Malena Loberg Haarhaus, Emma Birgersson Wettersand, Matina Liapi, Marie-Louise Karlsson)
- Co-supervisor for 3 registered PhD students (Louisa Brieskorn, Wenqi Huang, Maja Dodd)
- Co-supervisor for PhD-student Shahrzad Kia Komujuni (thesis defence Dec 2022)
- Main supervisor for 1 medical student (Ida Martha Maria Fagerlund) (2023)
- Clinical supervisor for 1 rheumatology resident (Dr. Giorgia Grosso)
- Supervisor for the research project of 2 GP residents (Dr Annie Mavroudi (finished 2021, Dr Iris Karkamanis, finished 2023)
- Teaching of medical students in the rheumatology and medical departments the last 8 years. (>300 teaching hours)
- Teaching in several PhD courses at Karolinska Institute
- Teaching in several postgradual courses at National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
- Responsible for the annual, national Swedish course of ‘Chronic arthritis – pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment’ in Stockholm since 2017