Ida Karlsson

Ida Karlsson

Assistant Professor | Docent
Visiting address: Nobels Väg 12a, 17165 Solna
Postal address: C8 Medicinsk epidemiologi och biostatistik, C8 MEB II Hägg Karlsson, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am Docent, Assistant professor, and leader of the research group Cardiometabolic epidemiology and aging. My main interest is combining genetic and longitudinal designs to understand complex aging-related traits. My primary research aim is to understand how obesity influences late-life health, by studying how differences among adiposity-related traits and why they have different associations with age-related diseases such as dementia, cardiovascular disease, and type-2 diabetes. I am also involved in several projects aiming to understand how different factors across the life course affect dementia risk, including genetic factors, lifestyle, and environmental exposures.

Research

  • Adiposity and the risk of age-related disease
    The project aims to leverage the heterogeneity of adiposity-related traits, to understand better how adiposity influences the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. My hypothesis is that specific adiposity-related traits have different effects on the risk of the age-related diseases, and that these differences are explained by differences in e.g. metabolic factors or accelerated aging. I study adiposity in general (e.g. BMI and body fat distribution), and specific adiposity-related traits: a) metabolically unhealthy vs healthy adiposity, b) environmentally vs genetically driven adiposity, and c) adiposity measured in midlife vs late-life. These adiposity-related traits are associated with substantially increased, vs only slightly increased or even decreased risk of age-related disease (compared to having normal weight), and by studying what differs between them, I aim to advance our understanding of both the heterogeneity of overweight and of how adiposity in general affects late-life health.


    The Interplay of Genes and Environment across Multiple Studies (IGEMS) consortium
    I am part of the IGEMS consortium, which integrates data across twin studies of adult development and aging to address issues of gene-environment interplay in Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD). Within IGEMS, I lead studies of cardiometabolic risk factors of ADRD and am the lead of the Statistical Methods work group and the Genotyping and Polygenic Scores work group.

Teaching

  • Course director:

    • An introduction to genetic and molecular epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, from 2021 (PhD course, 1.5 credits)
    • Statistical Methods, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, 2020 (PhD course, 7.5 credits)

     

    Lecturer:
    Karolinska Institutet, from 2021:

    • Lectures on genetic epidemiology, cognition, and dementia (bachelor and master level)
    • Leader of seminars, group work, laboratory assignments in epidemiology and biostatistics

    School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, 2018-2020:

    • Lectures on statistical methods (doctoral level)
    • Lectures on cognition and dementia (bachelor and master level)

     

    Supervision:

    • Axel Ryding, research assistant (amanuens)
    • Elsa Ojalehto, PhD student at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
    • Emilija Romic (as co-supervisor), PhD student at Umeå University
    • Martin Nakash, research assistant (amanuens)
    • Otto-Emil Jutila (as co-supervisor), PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, Precision Medicine Doctoral Training Program

     

    Former students:

    • Anita Paul, master student from Stockholm University, Public health department, VT 2022
    • Axel Ryding, medical degree student at Karolinska Institutet, HT 2023
    • Elsa Ojalehto (as co-supervisor, now PhD student), master student from Stockholm University, Public health department, VT 2022
    • Martin Nakash, medical degree student at Karolinska Institutet, VT 2024

Articles

Employments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2028
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2021-2022
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, School of Health and Welfare, Institute of Gerontology, Jönköping University, 2017-2020
  • Phd Student, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2012-2017
  • R&D Trainee, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2011-2012

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2024
  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2017
  • Master Of Medical Science, Karolinska Institutet, 2010

Leadership and responsibility assignments

Committee work

  • Member, Junior Faculty Steering Group, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-
  • Vice chair, MEB Departmental Junior Faculty Group, Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, 2021-

Visiting research fellowships

News from KI

Events from KI