Nele Brusselaers

Nele is a medical doctor and epidemiologist, specialised in clinical- and pharmaco-epidemiology. She is a senior researcher and associate professor, and has worked at Karolinska Institutet since 2012. Nele combines this with a position as Professor in Pharmaco-epidemiology at the Global Health Institute, at the University of Antwerp in Belgium (since end 2020). She has a broad interest and experience in different clinical topics with a main focus on long-term effects of commonly prescribed drugs on long-term health and the microbiome, with a focus on women's health, early life, cancer and infections. She has extensive experience in evidence synthesis methodologies (systematic reviews, meta-analyses etc. ), the Swedish Health Registries and various clinical and microbiome cohorts. 

Graduated PhD students:
As main supervisor:

• Eva Doorakkers (Karolinska Institutet, 2019)
• Sam Van Slycke (Ghent University, 2020)
• Robin Willaert (Ghent Universtiy, 2021)
• Johanna Simin (Karolinska Institutet, 2021)
• Qing Liu (Karolinska Institutet, 2023)
• Frank Mulindwa (University of Antwerp, 2024)

As co-supervisor:

• John Maret.Ouda (Karolinska Institutet, 2018)
• Laurent Thierens (Ghent University, 2020)
• Unnur Gudnadottir (Karolinska Institutet, 2024)

Awarded research funding as prinicipal investigator:

• SFO: Strategic Funding in Epidemiology (Karolinska Institutet): Young Scholar Grant(2014)
• Julin funding(2014)
• Bengt Ihres Fond (Svenska Läkaresällskapet)(2014, 2017, 2018)
• KI fonder(2014-2019)
• Svenska Läkaresällskapet(2015, 2018)
• KID funding: Karolinska Insitutet delfinansiering för nya doktorander(2015)
• Shizu Matsurais foundation(2017)
• Gastroenterolgisk forskningsfond(2017, 2018)
• Vetenskapsrådet(2020)
• Vetenskapsrådet(2023)

Awarded research funding as co-applicant

• KID funding: Karolinska Insitutet delfinansiering för nya doktorander(2014)
• SIMSAM (Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social and 
• Medical Sciences)(2014-2018)
• Alzheimerfonden(2018)
• KI Stifeltsen(2018)
• Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Technolica(CONICYT)(2018) - Romina Fornes - postdoc
• Kronprinsessan Lovisas Förening För Barnasjukvård /Stifelsen Axel Tielmans(2019)
• ALF(2020) 

Awards:

• Best European Abstract - European Burn Association (EBA- 2009)
• Investigators award at the Congress of the Belgian Society of Internal Medicine (2010)
• Best abstract - European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM – 2010)
• Best abstract/4th best oral presentation (EBA - 2011)
• Selected as representative from KI to attend the Global Young Scientist Summit in Singapore (2014)

Education/Career:

• Master in Medicine (MD), Ghent University (Belgium), 2008.
• PhD in Medical Sciences, Thesis: "Severe burn injury: Some determinants of epidemiological and surgical outcomes, Ghent University, Belgium, 2010.
• Master in Hospital Hygiene and Infection Control, Ghent University, (Belgium), 2010.
• Master in Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, (United Kingdom), 2015.
• Docent in Clinical Epidemiology, Karolinska Institutet, 2015.
• First post-doc: Dept of Internal medicine and Infectious diseases, Ghent, University, Belgium (2010-2012)
• Second post-doc: Upper-gastrointestinal surgery, Dept of Molecular 
• medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Insitutet (2012-2016)
• Associate Professor / Senior Researcher 
• (2016-2024) - Centre for Translational Microbiome Research, Dept. Microbiology, Tumour and Cellbiology, Karolinska Institutet.
• Associate Professor / Senior Researcher - Dept of Women's and Children's Health,  
• Karolinska Institutet (2024-current)