Malin Ernberg

I am since 2012 Professor in Clinical Oral Physiology and Senior Consultant at the Department for Dental Medicine. Since 2024 I am Senior Professor with 20% employment and subcontracted PI for a projekt within the NIH-project "Comprehesive functional phenotyping of trigeminal neurons innervating the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) tissues in male, female and aged mice, primates, and humans with and without TMJ disorders (TMJD)."

I received my dental degree (DDS) at Karolinska Institutet 1979 and Specialist Diploma in Orofacial Pain/TMD in 1995. In 1999 I defended my PhD thesis and in 2004 I was appointed Associate Professor at KI. Between 2004 and 2006 I was guest researcher at the Department of Orofacial Pain at Aarhus University, Denmark during a total of 1 year. From 2009 to 2014 I had a 50% clinical research position financed by the Swedish Research Council and was 2012 appointed Professor in Clinical Oral Physiology at KI. 

Within the Department I have had various leadership assignments. I was Head of the undergraduate dental clinic for adults between 2006 and 2009, Head of the Division of Oral Diagnostics and Rehabilitation 2018-2023, and Head of Research at the Department and member of the Management team 2014 and 2022.

During 2011 and 2012 I was the President of the Neuroscience Group of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR) and between 2013 to 2016 the President of the Swedish Pain Society, the national chapter of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP). At the same time I was a member of the European Pain Federation’s (EFIC) Council. Presently I am the President of the European Academy of Orofacial Pain and Dysfunction (EAOPD) and of the American Dental Society Sweden (ADSS), and member of the recently started KI Pain Network’s stearing group.

I have co-authored a vast number of original papers, review papers and book chapters.

My research group focuses on increasing our knowledge concerning the mechanisms behind chronic orofacial pain, emphasising jaw muscle pain and its sex differences. The research is translational, spanning from basic research conducted in patients and matched pain-free controls via human experimental studies where pain is experimentally induced to clinical intervention studies. We study potential algesic and inflammatory peripheral biomarkers.

The current project I am Swedish PI for is led by Professor Armen Akopian, University of Texas, San Antoniand includes four PIs at different universities. I am the only PI outside USA. The projektet is in turn, part of a larger consortium, RE-JOIN, including five larger project groups within the NIH HEAL initiative, aiming at finding new drugs that can replace opioids.

The Orofacial Pain Research Group is part of the larger Orofacial Neuroscience Group at the Division of Oral Rehabilitation, and collaborates with several other research groups within KI and other Swedish and International universities. The group also has a close collaboration with the Specialist Clinic for Orofacial Pain at the Eastman Institute in Stockholm.

For information about specific research projects, please visit the Department's Research pages.

During my academic career I have always shown a great interest in teaching and throughout the years been a member of various educational committees. As Professor I have initiated radical changes of the teaching in my subject (Orofacial Pain and Jaw Function) for dental students, which was further developed and implemented by colleagues. This meant a change from having a more traditional teaching with lectures to Team-based learning. I was also responsible for the implementation of Observed Structural Clinical Examination (OSCE) within the undergraduate dental curriculum in 2009 and was in lead for the exam for several years.

I have further supervised more than 12 PhD students, 9 MSci theses, and 39 student theses and have given several presentations and lectures at National and International conferences as invited speaker.