Ronny Wickström

Ronny Wickström

Professor/Senior Physician
Visiting address: ALB Q2:07, 17176 STOCKHOLM
Postal address: K6 Kvinnors och barns hälsa, K6 Neuropediatrik Wickström, 171 77 Stockholm

About me

  • Professor of Neuropaediatrics at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health as of 5 March 2025. Senior Consultant at Karolinska University Hospital.

Research

  • Ronny Wickström is Professor of paediatric neurology at Karolinska Institutet and Senior Consultant at Karolinska University Hospital. His research group focuses on neuroimmunology and epilepsy in children and adolescents. The research in the group is mainly clinical and aims to increase the understanding of  the part inflammation plays in diseases and conditions such as viral infections, autoimmunity, demyelinating diseases, epilepsy and post-traumatic injury. The aim is to pave the way for improved treatments that will give rise to fewer and milder brain injuries.

    One line of Wickström’s research involves the role of inflammation in prolonged epileptic seizures that are difficult to control and harmful to the brain. In addition to academic research, he is also involved in several clinical drug studies, including phase III studies on new drugs for epilepsy and demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, MS, and neuromyelitisoptica, NMO.

    Ronny Wickström is Chair of the Swedish Epilepsy Society (national branch of the International League Against Epilepsy, ILAE) and leads the Epilepsy Centre Karolinska, which gathers preclinical and clinical epilepsy research at KI and Karolinska University Hospital, and ties this research to epilepsy care.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2024 - 31 December 2026
    Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) predominantly affects women, and the clinical onset of MS often occurs during child-bearing age. Clinicians recommend discontinuation of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) before conception unless the risk of disease worsening outweighs the risk to the fetus. New high-efficacy DMTs such as rituximab, a chimeric monoclonal B-cell-depleting anti-CD20 antibody, are frequently used off-label for the treatment of MS in Sweden. Objective: There is a lack of evidence on the influence of DMTs including anti-CD20-antibodies on the infant´s immune system and their responses to vaccination during the first months after birth. Purpose: To fill the knowledge gaps regarding the impact of the mother´s DMT on a newborn´s humoral immune system. Aims: To investigate the association between mother´s exposure to DMTs pre-pregnancy and infant´s 1) successful B-cell production 2) vaccine response and 3) risk of infections within the first year. Setting: a) Retrospective cohort study with infants born between 2012 and 2022 to mothers with MS treated with DMTs. The infants´humoral immune system will be assessed by analyzing markers of successful B-cell production in newborn dried-blood spot samples. b) Prospective cohort study, recruiting between 2024 och 2025. Vaccine responses and infection rates in infants to mothers with rituximab will be compared to mothers with other DMTs prior to pregnancy.
  • VINNOVA
    1 November 2021 - 6 September 2022

Employments

  • Professor/Senior Physician, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2025-
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2022-2025

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2013
  • Doctor Of Philosophy, Department of Women's and Children's Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2002
  • University Medical Degree, Karolinska Institutet, 1998

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