Johan von Schreeb
About me
Professor of Global Disaster Medicine at the Department of Global Public Health.
I am the director for the Centre for Health Crises and research group leader for the group Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Response. The group is a WHO collaborative centre that provides training in global disaster medicine and trauma care in austere settings, conducts research and supports policy work within the field. We were part of setting up the WHO-led Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) initiative and have co-authored key documents within the initiative.
I am a medical doctor specialised in general surgery an. I did my first field mission in 1989 with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), and have since continued to work with MSF and other organisations in disasters world wide. Immediately following the earthquake in Turkey in February 2023, I assisted in the coordination of international medical assistance on site, via a collaboration between the Centre for Health Crises and the frontline medical aid organisation UK-Med.- In March and April 2022 I was seconded to the WHO in Ukraine to serve as coordinator for international EMTs. In August 2020 I was deployed as EMT coordinator to Lebanon for 5 months following the Beirut blast and explosion of COVID-19 cases. I continued to support WHO in Lebanon in 2021 and conducted training on mass casualty management in Iraq. I also served as EMT coordinator during the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone 2014. In 2016-17, I gave trauma care support in Mosul and in 2017 conducted training in trauma care in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine and in 2018 conducted similar training in Yemen, all for the WHO.
During the COVID-19 pandemic I served as an advisor on disaster medicine to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare as well as to Stockholm County Council.
I am the co-founder of the Swedish section of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and served as its president for seven years and have been board member of MSF Belgium and Hong Kong.
Based on my field experience as a front line surgeon I published the book “Katastrofdoktorn” Brombergs förlag, 2015. I regularly appear as a disaster medicine expert in radio and television. I also spend lots of time working with the artist-run gallery Candyland, that I am part of.
Education
Professor, MD, PhD, Specialist in general surgery
Academic honours, awards and prizes
Awarded Swede of the year 2014 by the news magazine Fokus
Awardes the Prins Carl medal by the Swedish King in 2014 for outstanding humanitarian work
Research
My research aims at providing scientific evidence to support improvements in assisting people and populations affected by disasters worldwide. Moreover, my research explores how health needs and risks vary depending on type of disaster and context. My research group also explores type and level of trauma care needed in resource scarce settings and assess predictions models for early trauma mortality. We also assess health system resilience to disasters. Please see the publication list for more information.
Teaching
Global Disaster Medicine - Health Needs and Response runs several courses that focuses on managing significant number of disaster affected including management of injuries. The courses cover both clinical and public aspects of disasters using limited resources. Together with Anneli Eriksson I have developed several courses at our department.
We run a two year Erasmus Mundus course called Public Health in Disasters, that is conducted in partnership with two other European universities. Our 20 ECT course Public Health Response in Disasters is offered as a free standing course. Every semester we offer a two week elective course (SVK) in disaster medicine for medical students. Moreover, we offer a 9-week humanitarian health assistance course for volunteers deploying with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). We also offer specific trainings in disaster medicine for Swedish doctors undergoing specialisation.
Through KI Education our group also commissions courses and accepts assignments. In 2020 we developed online courses in hygiene procedures for health care staff working with COVID-19. During the pandemic, more than 160 000 people completed these courses. We also run trainings in mass casualty management and have developed the simulations tools ViTrieEX (Virtual Triage Exercise) and AnTriEx (Analouge triage exercise). We have conducted simulation trainings in Iraq, Yemen, Cambodia, Lebanon, Ukraine and Moldova. The tools are available free of charge.
Moreover, I frequently teach on other courses and in public lectures. Since 2020 I am a member of the Pedagogical Academy at Karolinska Institutet.
Articles
- Article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR QUALITY IN HEALTH CARE. 2024;36(2):mzae028
- Article: GLOBALIZATION AND HEALTH. 2024;20(1):19
- Article: BMC MEDICAL ETHICS. 2023;24(1):110
- Article: BMC EMERGENCY MEDICINE. 2023;23(1):113
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2023;38(S1):s187
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2023;38(S1):s36-s37
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2023;38(S1):s21
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2023;38(S1):s158
- Article: SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF WORK AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2023;8(1):2
- Article: TRAUMA SURGERY & ACUTE CARE OPEN. 2023;8(1):e001103
- Article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT. 2023;12(1):6659
- Article: FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH. 2023;11:1161114
- Article: PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH. 2023;3(9):e0001723
- Article: FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH. 2023;11:1077068
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2022;37(S2):s87
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2022;37(S2):s62
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2022;37(S2):s88
- Article: DISASTER MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS. 2022;16(5):2200-2201
- Article: PREVENTIVE MEDICINE REPORTS. 2022;28:101846
- Article: EMERGENCY MEDICINE JOURNAL. 2022;39(8):628-633
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2022;37(4):529-534
- Article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR QUALITY IN HEALTH CARE. 2022;34(2):mzac034
- Article: CONFLICT AND HEALTH. 2022;16(1):24
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY SURGERY. 2022;17(1):9
- Article: PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH. 2022;2(12):e0001334
- Article: JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE. 2021;61(6):774-781
- Journal article: J. 2021;4(4):794-802
- Article: BMC EMERGENCY MEDICINE. 2021;21(1):94
- Article: BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH. 2021;6(8):e006779
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2020;44(12):4052-4059
- Article: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY. 2020;128:66-73
- Article: BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH. 2020;5(4):e002272
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2020;35(2):174-183
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2020;35(2):212-219
- Article: THE LANCET GLOBAL HEALTH. 2020;8(3):e423-e429
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2019;43(11):2681-2688
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2019;43(9):2123-2130
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2019;34(3):260-264
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2019;34(3):330-334
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2019;43(2):368-373
- Article: BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH. 2019;4(4):e001361
- Article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH. 2018;15(12):E2689-2689
- Article: JMIR RESEARCH PROTOCOLS. 2018;7(11):e12334
- Article: BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. 2018;18(1):846
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2018;42(11):3493-3500
- Article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH. 2018;15(4):E665-665
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2018;42(3):652-665
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2018;42(1):93-98
- Article: BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH. 2018;3(5):e000909
- Article: BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2017;104(10):1315-1326
- Journal article: MOUNT SINAI JOURNAL OF MEDICINE. 2017;83(1):13
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s55
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s100-s101
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s80
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s134-s135
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s102
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s11-s12
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s101-s102
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(S1):s228-s229
- Article: BMC HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH. 2017;17(1):142
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2017;9:ecurrents.dis.1a1e352febd
- Article: GLOBAL HEALTH ACTION. 2016;9:30834
- Article: INJURY. 2016;47(11):2459-2464
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2016;8:ecurrents.dis.29203368920
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2016;8:ecurrents.dis.d59e0fa3988
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2016;40(6):1299-1307
- Article: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2016;40(6):1344-1351
- Article: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY. 2016;74:177-186
- Article: JOURNAL OF EMERGENCIES, TRAUMA AND SHOCK. 2016;9(2):90-92
- Article: BMC EMERGENCY MEDICINE. 2016;16:15
- Article: FRONTIERS IN PUBLIC HEALTH. 2016;4:222
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2015;7:ecurrents.dis.8e7fb95c7df
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2015;30(3):264-270
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2015;7:ecurrents.dis.0cadd595907
- Article: SURGERY. 2015;157(5):836-842
- Article: THE LANCET. 2015;385:S21-21
- Article: THE LANCET. 2015;385:S19-19
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2014;6:ecurrents.outbreaks.0307d
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2014;111(46):2012-2013
- Journal article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2014;6:ecurrents.dis.8b3c24217d8
- Article: DISASTERS. 2014;38(3):451-464
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2014;6:ecurrents.dis.d05f908b179
- Article: PLOS ONE. 2014;9(3):e90064
- Journal article: PLOS ONE. 2013;8(10):10.1371/annotation/4c2d73
- Article: DISASTER MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH PREPAREDNESS. 2013;7(3):251-256
- Article: PLOS ONE. 2013;8(4):e61371
- Article: EMERGENCY MEDICINE JOURNAL. 2013;30(1):e8
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2012;27(6):577-582
- Article: PLOS CURRENTS. 2012;4:e4fb3fd97a2d3c
- Article: CRITICAL CARE. 2012;16(3):R87
- Article: THE LANCET INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 2012;12(5):415-421
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2012;27(1):90-93
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2012;109(3):86
- Article: PLOS MEDICINE. 2011;8(8):e1001083
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2011;108(18):974-975
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2011;26(S1):s95
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2011;26(S1):s26
- Article: MALARIA JOURNAL. 2011;10:94
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2011;108(10):550
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2010;107(51-52):3279-3281
- Article: PLOS MEDICINE. 2010;7(3):e1000243
- Article: PLOS MEDICINE. 2010;7(3):e1000242
- Journal article: GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH. 2008;3(4):440-447
- Article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2008;23(2):144-151
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2007;22(S1):s58
- Journal article: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2007;22(S1):s58
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2007;104(13):1022-1024
- Article: OPEN MEDICINE. 2007;1(3):e153-e159
- Journal article: THE BMJ. 2004;329(7460):297
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2004;101(8):696-701
- Journal article: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER MEDICINE. 2004;2(1-2):41-47
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2003;100(46):3726-3727
- Article: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 1999;96(41):4406-4407
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All other publications
- Corrigendum: PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH. 2024;4(2):e0002953
- Corrigendum: PLOS GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH. 2024;4(2):e0003002
- Conference publication: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTRAUMATOLOGY. 2023;14
- Review: MATERNAL AND CHILD NUTRITION. 2023;19(1):e13440
- Review: JOURNAL OF HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT. 2022;67(5):380-402
- Review: BMJ OPEN. 2022;12(5):e056018
- Editorial comment: BMJ GLOBAL HEALTH. 2022;7(2):e008174
- Review: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2021;36(5):645-650
- Letter: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2021;45(2):651
- Editorial comment: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 2021;66:1604064
- Conference publication: TROPICAL MEDICINE AND INTERNATIONAL HEALTH. 2021;26:146
- Conference publication: TROPICAL MEDICINE AND INTERNATIONAL HEALTH. 2021;26:195-196
- Book chapter: FIELD HOSPITALS. 2020;p. 17-23
- Review: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH POLICY AND MANAGEMENT. 2020;9(1):6-16
- Corrigendum: WORLD JOURNAL OF SURGERY. 2019;43(2):658
- Review: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2019;34(1):82-88
- Editorial comment: NATURE HUMAN BEHAVIOUR. 2018;2(9):612
- Book chapter: HEALTH IN HUMANITARIAN EMERGENCIES. 2018;p. 79-90
- Review: CURRENT TRAUMA REPORTS. 2018;4(2):103-108
- Review: PREHOSPITAL AND DISASTER MEDICINE. 2017;32(5):568-579
- Letter: THE LANCET. 2017;389(10070):699-700
- Other: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 2017;27(2):387
- Published conference paper: RADIATION PROTECTION DOSIMETRY. 2016;171(1):134-138
- Editorial comment: ZEITSCHRIFT FUR ORTHOPADIE UND UNFALLCHIRURGIE. 2016;154(6):550-553
- Book chapter: ORTHOPAEDIC TRAUMA IN THE AUSTERE ENVIRONMENT. 2016;p. 657-667
- Review: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 2015;60(7):781-787
- Meeting abstract: THE LANCET. 2015;385:S44-44
- Corrigendum: PLOS ONE. 2015;10(12):e0144886
- Editorial comment: PLOS MEDICINE. 2014;11(4):e1001632
- Review: JOURNAL OF TRAUMA AND ACUTE CARE SURGERY. 2012;73(3):758-764
- Book chapter: MEDICAL RESPONSE TO MAJOR INCIDENTS AND DISASTERS. 2012;p. 305-319
- Letter: LAKARTIDNINGEN. 2011;108(16-17):932
- Editorial comment: PLOS MEDICINE. 2009;6(12):e1000200
- Other: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH. 2008;18(3):348-349
- Thesis / dissertation: 2007
- Letter: THE LANCET. 2007;369(9556):101
- Letter: THE LANCET. 2002;360(9334):723
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Grants
- Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
- Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation1 January 2022 - 31 December 2027
- Swedish Research Council1 January 2017 - 31 December 2019
- Central Norway Regional Health Authority1 January 2012 - 31 December 2017
Employments
- Professor, Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2019-
Degrees and Education
- Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2012
- Doctor Of Philosophy, Karolinska Institutet, 2007