Anna Martling

Anna Martling is a Professor of Surgery at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. She defended her thesis on rectal cancer in 2003, became a board certified surgeon in 2004 and an associate professor of surgery in 2009. In 2014 Martling became full professor of surgery. Between 2019 and 2023, Anna Martling served as Dean at Karolinska Institutet. From 2020 to 2024, she held the role of coordinating and driving the implementation of precision medicine into healthcare within the Stockholm Region. In 2024, Professor Martling served as the Scientific Director of Life Science at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm.

Since 2008 she has been heading the research group and responsible for the research field of colorectal surgery with special focus on clinical, translational and epidemiological studies on colorectal cancer. A special interest of Martlings research group has been predictive and prognostic biomarkers, aspirin, radiotherapy, timing of surgery and development of new surgical techniques. Anna Martling has managed to fully integrate the work by the research group into the clinical department creating a unique creative and academic culture supporting high quality clinical research.

Her research has received numerous awards. In 2013, Anna Martling received the Swedish Surgical Society´s Great Research Prize. In year 2021 she received the prize “Cancer Researcher of the Year” from The Swedish Cancer Society.

She is considered to be a world leading expert in her field and is a frequent lecturer in Sweden and abroad. Professor Martling is Honorary Fellow of Royal College of Surgeon of England (FRCS), American Colleges of Surgeons (FACS) and American Society of Colorectal Surgeons (FASCRS). Professor Martling is chairman of the Swedish Colorectal Cancer Study Group, which is a national research network for colorectal cancer in Sweden. Between 2015-2018 she has been the Chairman of the Program Committee of ESCP and responsible for the scientific programme for the annual meeting. Since 2020 Professor Martling is coordinating chairman of the Task force for implementing Precision Medicine into healthcare in Region Stockholm.

Anna Martling's research is funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society, Radiumhemmet's research funds, KI and the Region Stockholm. In 2014, she received the Swedish Research Council's largest grant to date for clinical treatment research of 25 million Swedish crowns.

Concerned questions

At Karolinska Institutet (KI), we must jointly create a stimulating and research-facilitating environment that enables world-leading basic scientific, translational and clinical research which together creates value by contributing knowledge about life and improving human health. An important component in this is the introduction of what has come to be known as precision medicine. By running this project in collaboration between KI, SciLifeLab, Karolinska University Hospital and the Stockholm Region, we hope to achieve that important medical advances, new findings and technologies can be implemented in healthcare and create more precise, individualized diagnostics and therapies at the forefront. Another important component to achieve this is that we jointly create conditions for storage, processing, integration and analysis of large amounts of complex data, which not just contributes to the development of precision medicine but also enables secondary use of health data for research.

At the same time, KI is facing new challenges but also significant opportunities with the major changes in the healthcare structure within the Stockholm Region. It is then of utmost importance that KI is active and deeply involved in the changes and seize the opportunity to build an excellent research and education environment for the future where research and education are integrated and natural parts of our healthcare system at all levels, regardless of mode of operation and care provider.

Academic honours, awards and prizes
2023 Honorary Fellow of European Society of Coloproctology (FESCP)

2023 Honorary Fellow of American College of Surgeons (FACS)

2022 Honorary Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of England (FRCS)

2021 Årets Cancerforskare, Cancerfonden

2020 Honorary Fellowship of American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (FASCRC)

2019 Tarmcancerpriset, ILCO

2019 Med dr Axel Hirsch Pris, Karolinska Institutet

2018 Hilda and Alfred Eriksson's Prize, Kungliga Vetenskaps Akademin

2017 Marc-Claude Marti Lecture, Villars, Schweiz

2016 Årets Lennanderföreläsare, Svenska Läkaresällskapet

2015 The Edward Wilson Lecture, Sydney, Australia

2013 Swedish Surgical Society Major Research Prize

Leading the research group since 2008, she focuses on colorectal surgery with clinical, translational, and epidemiological studies on colorectal cancer. Her leadership has advanced TME surgery, introduced HIPEC and cytoreductive surgery at Karolinska University Hospital, and initiated organ-preserving treatments for rectal cancer in Stockholm and nationwide. As Principal Investigator (PI), she led multicenter studies like Stockholm III and ALASCCA, receiving numerous awards. 

Supervision to doctoral degree

• Ida Hed Myrberg, 2023-
• Cecilia Merk, 2022-
• Annika Svanström Röjvall, Adverse effects of treatment for rectal cancer- Sexual function, hormones, and bone health, 2022
• Huang Linglong, 2021-
• Sofieke Temmink, Organ preservation in rectal cancer: Implementation and quality assurance, 2021-
• Mehrnoosh Shahrivar, Aspirin use, genetic profile and prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer, https://ki.se/en/people/mehrnoosh-shahrivar, 2020-
• Louise de la Motte, Sequele after multimodal treatment of rectal cancer, 2019-
• John Tapper, Hormones, Muscles and Oncological Outcome in men with rectal cancer, 2019
• Johan Erlandsson, Preoperative radiotherapy in rectal cancer - Aspects on fractionation and timing to surgery, 2019
• Emeli Pontén, 2018-
• Richard Bernhoff, Coloncancer- aspects on surgical treatment and Complete Mesocolic Excision, 2018
• Emelie Ponten, 2017-
• Anders Hansson Elliot, On preoperative treatment selection and magnetic resonance imaging in rectal cancer, 2017
• Karin Westberg, Locally recurrent rectal cancer-aspects on management, surgery and outcome, 2017
• Stina Fuentes, Adverse effects and quality of life after radiotherapy and surgery for rectal cancer - a randomized controlled trial enriched with register data, 2016-
• Patrik Lundström, 2015-
• Christian Buchli, Rectal cancer : aspects on radiotherapy, androgens and body composition, 2015
• Deborah Saraste, Early rectal cancer and screening for colorectal cancer, 2015
• Petri Rantanen, On the clinical evaluation of morhology related and other risk factors in colorectal cancer patients, 2014-
• Claes Anderin, Low rectal cancer : aspects of surgical techniques and treatment results, 2012
• David Pettersson, Preoperative radiotherapy in rectal cancer – aspects of different regimens, 2012
• Josefin Segelman, Colorectal Cancer – Aspects of multidisciplinary treatment, metastatic disease and sexual function, 2012
• Gabriella Jansson Palmer, Locally advanced rectal cancer : aspects on management, outcome and quality of life, 2009
• Michael Torkzad, Magnetic resonance imaging of rectum : diagnostic and therapy related aspects, 2006