Sari Ponzer

Sari Ponzer, MD, PhD, is Senior Professor at Karolinska Institutet.
Sari Ponzer completed her undergraduate medical education at Karolinska Institutet in 1986 and became specialist in orthopaedic surgery in 1994. She defended her PhD thesis in traumatology in 1996. She has during the years published about 200 original papers and supervised 12 PhD students as main supervisor and 21 as co-supervisor. She worked for many years as a clinician, as lecturer and course director for undergraduate medical education. She was the Head of the Department of Clinical Science and Education, Södersjukhuset, Karolinska Institutet (2002-2007). She chaired KIs curriculum committee for undergraduate medical education (2004-2007) and was responsible for the reform of KIs Nursing program (2010). She was Vice Dean of Education (2008) and Dean of Education (2009-2011) at Karolinska Institutet.

She was the Head of the Department of Orthopaedics (2011-2019), the Head of Department of Emergency (2019-2023) and the Director of Research, Development, Education and Innovation (2014-2025) at Södersjukhuset (hospital). She was member of the University Board of Södertörn University (2013-2019) and the Chair of Karolinska Institutets Pedagogical Academy (2021-2023)

She is currently member of University Board of Örebro University (since 2020), member of Board of Karolinska Univerity Hospital (since 2023) and member of Board of The Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis (since 2025).

She was the Chair of the Committee for Karolinska Institutet Prize for Research in Medical Education, KIPRIME, for many years, and is now member of the Board of KIPRIME Foundation.

Academic honours, awards and prizes
- Guest lecturer in Melbourne in 2008
- Guest lecturer in Perth in 2011
- Karolinska Institutet pedagogical prize 2003
- Matts Halldin Prize for pedagogical efforts in clinical education 2005

Sari Ponzer´s research in orthopaedics aims at improving the care of patients with injuries of the musculoskeletal system. The main focus lies on osteoporosis-related fractures. She has also been deeply involved in medical education and has led several pedagogical projects with a focus on interprofessional education, leadership in education and professional development. She has been main-supervisor for 12 and co-supervisor for 21 PhD students and has on-going supervision of 2 PhD candidates as co-supervisor.