Tove Wästerlid

Tove Wästerlid

Affiliated to Research | Docent
Visiting address: Maria Aspmans gata 30A, 17164 Solna
Postal address: K2 Medicin, Solna, K2 KEP Ekström Smedby, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am a board certified Haematologist at the Karolinska University Hospital and associate professor in haematology at Karolinska Institutet. I finished my PhD-studies at the Department of Oncology, Lund University, in 2016 and I have been active in lymphoma research since 2010. In September 2017 I joined the Cancer Epidemiology group [1] at KEP as a post-doc and am now a part of Professor Karin Ekström Smedby's research group as an associate professor since 2025.

    2014: MD, Lund University
    2016: PhD, Lund University, Thesis title: Burkitt lymphoma and diffuse large 
    B-cell lymphoma – therapeutic strategies and pathogenetic mechanisms
    2017: Post-doc, Karolinska Institutet
    2023: Specialist in Haematology

    2025: Associate professor (docent) in haematology
    [1] https://ki.se/en/meds/kep-cancer-epidemiology

Research

  • My research focus is on malignant lymphomas, with a special interest in aggressive subtypes such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, Burkitt
    lymphoma and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. By using real-world data from national lymphoma registers linked to other databases I investigate the impact of prognostic factors, treatment and outcomes among patients with lymphoma in a population-based setting. I have several ongoing collaborative projects within the Nordic lymphoma group, to increase power to enable study of rare lymphoma subtypes.

    I also have an interest in precision medicine and tumour biology and am one of the main organisers of the clinical, prospective study BioLymph. Biolymph is a collaborative project between the department of haematology, pathology and clinical genetics that prospectively collects tumour- and blood samples for all patients with newly diagnosed lymphomas at the Karolinska University hospital. Genomic sequencing is performed on tumour material and longitudinally on circulating cell-free tumour DNA (ctDNA), a promising tool to measure minimal residual disease in lymphoma. The aim of this research is to increase knowledge of the impact of genetic aberrations on prognosis and response to treatment and the ability of ctDNA to assess treatment response and detect relapse. The ultimate goal is for these precision medicine methods to be implemented in clinical practice to enable individualised treatment for all lymphoma patients to ultimately improve survival for patients with lymphoma. Currently, more than 550 patients are enrolled with inclusion ongoing.

    I also participate as principal- and co-investigator in several ongoing clinical trials at the department of Haematology.

Teaching

  • Main supervisor to doctoral student Johanna Borg Bruchfeld with the project
    title "Sex-related differences in incidence and outcomes among patients with
    lymphoma: epidemiological and biological perspectives"

    Co-supervisor to doctoral student Joel Joelsson with the project title
    "Second malignancies after non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and early
    identification of patients with poor outcomes"

    Co-supervisor to doctoral student Linn Deleskog Spångberg with the project
    title "Long-term outcome and prognostic factors in follicular lymphoma and
    Hodgkin lymphoma - population-based studies using registers and new precision
    medicine biomarkers"

    Co-supervisor to post-doc Erik Boberg with the project "Epidemiological studies on risk factors, survival, and survivorship in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia"

    Organiser of Epidemiology Courses during Block II & IV in NatiOn: National
    Research School in Clinical and Translational Cancer Research

    Organiser of the annual Young Researchers in Hematology Conference at
    Karolinska Institutet

    Mentor at the course in professional development for medical student at
    Karolinska institutet since 2017

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Epidemiologiska och genetiska studier av lymfom hos äldre för framtida precision i diagnostik och behandling
    ALF Region Stockholm (Kliniska postdoktorer)
    1 January 2020 - 1 January 2023
  • Genetic studies and evaluation of cell-free tumour DNA for future diagnostic and therapeutic precision in lymphoma
    Åke Olssons stiftelse
  • Magnus Bergvall Foundation
  • Genetic studies and evaluation of cell-free tumour DNA for future diagnostic and therapeutic precision in lymphoma
    Svenska Läkaresällskapet (SLS Projektanslag) (971438)
  • Genetic studies and evaluation of cell-free tumour DNA for future diagnostic and therapeutic precision in lymphoma
    Jeanssons Stiftelse
  • Epidemiological studies on elderly patients with lymphoma
    Karolinska Institutet Stiftelser och Fonder
  • Epidemiological and genetic studies on lymphoma for future diagnostic and therapeutic precision
    Åke Wibergs Stiftelse
  • Könsrelaterade skillnader i incidens och överlevnad vid lymfom
    Gunnar Grimfors gåvofond
  • Könsrelaterade skillnader i incidens och överlevnad vid lymfom
    Karolinskas fond för leukemiforskning

Employments

  • Affiliated to Research, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2024-2026
  • Affiliated to Research, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, 2017-2026
  • Resident in Hematology, Department of Hematology, Karolinska University Hospital, 2017-2023

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Hematology, Karolinska Institutet, 2025

Supervision

  • Supervision to doctoral degree

    • Linn Deleskog Spångberg, 2022-
    • Johanna Borg Bruchfeld, Sex-related differences in incidence and outcomes among patients with lymphoma: epidemiological and biological perspectives, https://ki.se/en/people/johanna-borg-bruchfeld, 2021-
    • Joel Joelsson, 2019-

  • Supervision of postdoctoral researcher

    • Erik Boberg, 2023-

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