Karin Leander

Associate professor in epidemiology, 2012, KI.

Senior lecturer and research group leader at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, KI.

Several assignments in education, mainly for the KI Medical Program.

Assignment within risk assessment work at my department.

Member of Karolinska Institutet's Pedagogical Academy.

Examina:
2005, Doctor of philosophy, KI.

1999, Master of Medical Science with a major in Public Health, KI.

1997, Bachelor of Science in Public Health, program title: Preventive Medicine, KI

Indivual courses at university level:

1992-1996 Courses in Business economy, Law, French and Health Economy at Stockholm University and Stockholm School of Economics.

My research is in the field of cardiovascular epidemiology, with a general aim to increase knowledge of cardiovascular risk factors to improve the scientific basis for primary and secondary prevention in women and men. In my research group, we have a specific focus on cardiometabolic-related factors such as low-grade inflammation, dyslipidemia, hypertension and diabetes, as well as on the importance of lifestyle factors, such as dietary habits, for cardiovascular health.

Furthermore, we have a particular interest in women's health, in terms of possible cardiovascular-related health effects of pregnancy complications, premenstrual symptoms, menopause-related symptoms and hormone treatments. Another specific focus is the exploration of possible interactions between genetic factors and lifestyle factors in relation to cardiovascular risk. The cardiovascular diseases we study include fatal and non-fatal events of coronary artery disease and stroke as well as aortic aneurysm. We also study the degree of atherosclerosis in the coronary and carotid arteries.

Ongoing projects

As principal applicant / principal investigator (PI):

• The Swedish Research Council (VR): Risk-benefit analysis of hormone therapy in menopause including pharmacogenetic analyses
• Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation: Cardiometabolic risk factors of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in women
• PI for the Cohort of 60-year-olds.
• PI for the Stockholm Heart Epidemiology Program (SHEEP).
• PI for the local substudy "Women´s survey" within SCAPIS (Swedish Cardiopulmonary Bioimage study) at the centers in Stockholm and Linköping.
• PI for the COMPREHEND (Studies of register-based health outcomes in relation to hormonal drugs) project.
  As co-applicant or Work Package (WP) leader:
• Wellcome Lean- CARE: The EMERALD (Elucidating mechanisms of endocrine risk in Alzheimer´s and dementia) project.

• The Swedish Research Council (VR): The interaction between APOE, menopause, and estrogen in Alzheimer´s disease

Main supervisor for 2 PhD students who defended successfully; 1 ongoing main supervisor responsibility.

Co-supervisor for 8 PhD students who defended successfully; 1 ongoing responsibility as co-supervisor.

Supervised 2 postdocs and 1 assistant professor. Supervised 11 master's theses.

Member of the Curriculum Committee for the 6-year Medical Program at KI, with assignment as coordinator for scientific expertise and competence in climate and sustainable development.

Course organizer of “Public health and environmental medicine", 12 credit points, term 11, KI 5, 5-year Medical Program.

Member of the KI Medical Program Council and chair of Theme 7 KI 5, 5-year Medical Program.

Member of the preparation group for course plans, KI Medical Program

Promoter for the development of interprofessional learning at KI.

Examinant of medical student degree projects, term 8, KI Medical Program.

Regularly organizer of two doctoral level courses at KI: Epidemiology II: Design of epidemiological studies, and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, both 1, 5 credit points.

Taught more than 900 hours at KI, roughly half within the postgraduate education and half within the undergraduate education.