Christina Carlander

Christina Carlander

Adjunct Lecturer
Visiting address: I73, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, 14186 Huddinge
Postal address: H7 Medicin, Huddinge, H7 CIM-CID Carlander, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

  • Senior Consultant of Infectious Diseases, sub-specialized in HIV care, at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital. 

    Assocate professor (docent in Swedish) and  Group leader at the Department of Medicine Huddinge.  Also affiliated to the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at KI, Solna. 

    Since 2021, I am the Director (registerhållare in Swedish) of the National Quality Register of HIV (InfCareHIV). 




Research

  • My research is focused on register-based studies, mainly studying comorbidity in people living with HIV. Through linking of the Swedish National HIV Register InfCareHIV with other nationwide demographic and health registers we collect population-based data on an individual level to study time-trends, prediction-models, mortality rates and risk factors of comorbidity in people living with and without HIV. Read more about current projects here.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Anal cancer incidence is rising globally. The International Anal Neoplasia Society recommends screening high-risk individuals using high-resolution anoscopy (HRA). However, most countries lack anal cancer screening guidelines, and HRA's limited availability necessitates more efficient risk stratification methods. This project aims to advance anal cancer prevention through comprehensive register-based research and innovative biomarker discovery, with a particular focus on women, an understudied population in anal cancer research. Our objectives are to
    I) quantify Sweden's anal cancer burden, stratifying by immune status to identify risk groups, II) evaluate the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability of implementing international anal cancer screening guidelines for women with HIV, III) investigate DNA methylation markers' predictive potential for precancerous anal lesion progression, and IV) assess circulating HPV DNA in plasma as a pre-diagnostic biomarker for anal cancer. We will utilize national registers and international collaborations through
    I) a nationwide register-based cohort study of anal cancer burden, II) a prospective register-based study of anal cancer screening in women with HIV, III) analysis of DNA methylation markers in anal samples, and IV) an international register-based nested case-control study of circulating HPV DNA. This project will generate crucial knowledge to inform evidence-based anal cancer prevention policies for high-risk groups.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Despite an increased risk of cancer in people with HIV, the only current HIV specific cancer screening guideline is for cervical-cancer-screening, to which our research-group has earlier contributed. Clearly, there is a need for HIV specific screening guidelines for other cancers
    breast, lung, anal, and colon cancer, where an increased risk, earlier debut, or poorer prognosis among people with HIV has been identified. The aim of this project is to firstly develop predictive models for cancer risk in people with HIV, using unsupervised machine learning techniques on datasets based on demographic, socioeconomic, HIV-related, and comorbidity factors. Secondly, we aim to evaluate these prediction models through counterfactual prediction to justify the development of a clinical user-friendly tool to help guide individualized cancer prevention and screening for the population with HIV. To our knowledge this is the first project using machinelearning to create cancer-prediction models in an HIV-population. In summary, our aim is to create a clinical tool "HIVigilant: Cancer Screening Guide”, for individualized cancer prevention and screening of the population with HIV. This clinical tool can be integrated in the HIV register for easy access and use for all HIV clinicians in Sweden. This will save lives and reduce the burden of cancer among people with HIV. The knowledge that this project contributes can also be useful in the work of cancer prevention in the general population.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2028
    Despite an increased risk of cancer in people with HIV, the only current HIV specific cancer-screening guideline is for cervical-cancer-screening, to which our research-group has earlier contributed. Clearly, there is a need for HIV specific screening guidelines for other cancers
    breast, lung, anal, and colon cancer, where an increased risk, earlier debut, or poorer prognosis among people with HIV has been identified. The aim of this project is to firstly develop predictive models for cancer risk in people with HIV, using unsupervised machine learning techniques on datasets based on demographic, socioeconomic, HIV-related, and comorbidity factors. Secondly, we aim to evaluate these prediction models through counterfactual prediction to justify the development of  a clinical user-friendly tool to help guide individualized cancer prevention and screening for the population with HIV. To our knowledge this is the first project using machine-learning to create cancer-prediction models in an HIV-population. In summary, our aim is to create a clinical tool "HIVigilant: Cancer Screening Guide”, for individualized cancer prevention and screening of the population with HIV. This clinical tool can be integrated in the HIV register for easy access and use for all HIV clinicians in Sweden. This will save lives and reduce the burden of cancer among people with HIV. The knowledge that this project contributes can also be useful in the work of cancer prevention in the general population.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 December 2024 - 30 November 2028
    Anal cancer incidence is rising globally. The International Anal Neoplasia Society recommends screening high-risk individuals using high-resolution anoscopy (HRA). However, most countries lack anal cancer screening guidelines, and HRA´s limited availability necessitates more efficient risk stratification methods. This project aims to advance anal cancer prevention through comprehensive register-based research and innovative biomarker discovery, with a particular focus on women, an understudied population in anal cancer research. Our objectives are to
    I) quantify Sweden´s anal cancer burden, stratifying by immune status to identify risk groups, II) evaluate the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability of implementing international anal cancer screening guidelines for women with HIV, III) investigate DNA methylation markers´ predictive potential for precancerous anal lesion progression, and IV) assess circulating HPV DNA in plasma as a pre-diagnostic biomarker for anal cancer. We will utilize national registers and international collaborations through
    I) a nationwide register-based cohort study of anal cancer burden, II) a prospective register-based study of anal cancer screening in women with HIV, III) analysis of DNA methylation markers in anal samples, and IV) an international register-based nested case-control study of circulating HPV DNA. This project will generate crucial knowledge to inform evidence-based anal cancer prevention policies for high-risk groups.
  • Comorbidity in people with HIV
    The Gilead Sciences Nordic Fellowship, unrestricted
    1 January 2023 - 1 January 2025
  • Immunological non-response despite viral suppression-incidence and risk factors
    Swedish Doctors against AIDS Research foundation
    1 January 2022 - 1 January 2025
  • Risk of severe COVID-19 in people living with HIV
    The Gilead Sciences Nordic Fellowship, unrestricted
    1 January 2020 - 1 January 2023
  • Employment status of people living with and without HIV in Sweden
    Swedish Doctors against AIDS Research foundation
    1 January 2019 - 1 January 2021

Employments

  • Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-2025
  • Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-2025

Degrees and Education

  • Associate professor, Infectious Diseases, Medicine Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, 2024
  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, 2019

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