Cesare Patrone

I am a Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor and Docent at the Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet. I co‑lead the NeuroCardioMetabol research group together with Professor Thomas Nyström.

I obtained my PhD from the University of Milan in 1998 and completed postdoctoral training at Uppsala University and Karolinska Institutet, where I remained until 2001. After eight years in the Swedish biotechnology industry, I was recruited in 2009 to the Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset. My research focuses on the neurological complications of diabetes, with particular emphasis on stroke, integrating basic and translational approaches.

I am actively engaged in teaching, leadership and doctoral and postdoctoral supervision and have recently completed the Karolinska Institutet course Leadership for Research Group Leaders. I have supervised four PhD students to completion, two as main supervisor, and served as main supervisor for seven postdoctoral fellows. In addition, I have established two Assistant Professor (Biträdande lektor) positions within my research group.

My research is currently supported by national and international funding sources, including the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Heart‑Lung Foundation, Diabetesfonden, Stroke‑förbundet, ALF Medicine Region Stockholm, and collaborations with the pharmaceutical industry.

I have more than 30 years of experience in brain and metabolic research across academia and the biotechnology industry, with over 65 peer‑reviewed publications providing a strong foundation for leading multidisciplinary research.

Over the past 15 years, I have established a strong track record in diabetes‑related neurocomplications, with a primary focus on stroke. This research program is distinctive and addresses a critical gap at the brain–metabolism interface, two fields that often progress in parallel, with relatively few groups adopting the integrated perspective required to understand these complex disorders. Within this area, I have authored more than 40 publications in leading international journals, including Diabetologia, Cardiovascular Diabetology, British Journal of Pharmacology, Acta Neuropathologica Communications, Clinical Science, Neurobiology of Aging, and Diabetes, and have contributed invited reviews to journals such as The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology and Neuropharmacology.

A key contribution of my work has been the identification of diabetes‑driven mechanisms that exacerbate stroke outcomes and the demonstration that these pathways can be modulated by antidiabetic therapies, including GLP‑1 receptor agonists and SGLT2 inhibitors, as well as by dietary interventions that lead to  weight loss. This work has helped shape a growing field linking metabolic regulation to brain injury. In parallel, we have developed strong epidemiological expertise, contributing to studies that link  metabolic control to stroke risk and outcome.

These advances have been enabled by a productive national and international collaborative network, supporting mechanistic, translational, and epidemiological research, and by sustained success in securing competitive external funding.

Since 2013, I have served as Project Coordinator and Examiner for the course Degree Projects in Medicine / Examensarbete i medicin (30 hp) at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet. The role involves reviewing students’ project plans, mid‑term and final theses, organising seminars, and examining completed projects. To date, I have coordinated and examined several hundred students within this course.

Between 2015 and 2019, I served as Visiting Professor (one week per year) at the University of Piemonte Orientale in Novara, Italy. My teaching focused on mentoring PhD students in project design, structuring, and scientific writing.