Krister Håkansson

Krister Håkansson

Affiliated to Research
Visiting address: Karolinska vägen 37 A, QA3, 17164 Solna
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Klinisk geriatrik Kivipelto, 171 77 Stockholm
Part of:

About me

  • I work as a research coordinator with Miia Kivipelto and my main projects are
    about robot-assisted diagnostics of early cognitive disorder and life-style
    interventions to prevent cognitive decline.
    Between 1975-1980 I worked at the Psychology Department at Lund University
    with teaching and as research assistant at the Neuropsychology laboratory at
    Lund University Hospital, primarily with rCBF (regional cerebral blood flow)
    measurements. Between 1978 and 2018 I worked as teacher in Psychology at
    the Linnaeus University (former Växjö University).
    In 2010 I was formally registered as doctoral student (50%) at the Karolinska
    Institutet, with Miia Kivipelto as main supervisor, and defended my thesis,
    The role of socio-emotional factors for cognitive health in later life, on
    Oct 28, 2016.
    At the Karolinska Institutet I continue to work 50% as a research
    coordinator in several projects with Miia Kivipelto as principal
    investigator. Since 2018, when I resigned from the Linnaeus University, I
    also work 50% in parallell at Theme Aging at the Karolinska University
    Hospital, also as research coordinator under the leadership of Miia
    Kivipelto.
    I received the pedagogical award in 2003 from Växjö University (now the
    Linnaeus University) for my work with internationalization in higher
    education.
    I received the silver plaque for excellence in teaching in 2001 and 2004 from
    Universidad Iberoameicana, Mexico City.
    1975 Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
    2016 PhD in Medical Science, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Research

  • I am generally interested in the role of life style factors, especially
    emotional and social factors, in the development of Alzheimer’s disease,
    and also in the biological mechanisms behind the associations we have
    found.
    The main focus of my thesis was the role of socio-emotional factors in
    midlife for cognitive health in later life and how this association is
    modified by genetic risk factors. The results of the first study showed that
    living alone after losing a partner relatively early in life was associated
    with a seven-fold risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and the risk was even higher
    for persons who also carried the ApoE 4 allele. Follow-up results indicate
    that feelings of hopelessness and loneliness also constitute risk factors
    independent of marital status.
    At the Linnaeus University I initiated and coordinated a research project on
    healthy ageing in 2013 together with Abdul Mohammed at the Linnaeus
    University and Kirk Daffner at Harvard Medical School, a project that is
    still on-going. The project is entitled Successful Ageing after 65: Effects
    of environmental stimulation on cognitive health and neural plasticity. This
    is an intervention study to compare the effects from different activities on
    cognition and BDNF levels in approximately 160 healthy elderly persons living
    in south Sweden or in the Boston area in the US.
    At Karolinska I am a member of the Nordic Brain Network (NBN, led by Miia
    Kivipelto. At present I am coordinating a part of the EACare project
    (Embodied Agent to support elderly mental well-being), a collaboration
    between KI and KTH. The aim of this part of the project is to develop
    robot-assisted diagnostics for patients with early cognitive disorders.
    Other projects are related to the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study
    (FINGER). In one study we want to investigate if inter-individual differences
    in cognitive gains from the intervention can be related to brain neurotrophic
    factor (BDNF) availability. I also work with World-Wide FINGERS™, an
    initiative to support research groups in different countries to replicate the
    FINGER multimodal intervention with various adaptations. A third
    FINGER-related project is to broadly implement the FINGER model among elderly
    in the Stockholm region, called "Stockholm - International Capital for
    Cognitive Health among elderly".

Teaching

  • I have worked around 40 years as lecturer at the Linnaeus University (former
    Växjö University), primarily in Psychology, but also in interdisciplinary
    courses (Sports Psychology, Political Psychology, and Cross-cultural
    Psychology). During the last years at the Linnaeus University I mainly taught
    neuropsychology in the Psychologist´s program and also a master course in
    Cross-Cultural Organizational Psychology, on a part-time basis in parallell
    with my dissertation at KI.
    International teaching projects include a joint summer course with
    Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico on Culture in International Relations, a
    distance education course in International Cooperation at UNAM (Universidad
    Nacional Autonoma de Mexico), and a joint distance course in Cross-Cultural
    Psychology with Makerere University (Uganda) and University of Minnesota.
    I was promoted to lecturer at the Linnaeus University in 2017.

Articles

All other publications

Employments

  • Affiliated to Research, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2025

Degrees and Education

  • Degree Of Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2016

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