Wibke Jonas

I am a trained midwife and earned my degree from the Rheinische Friedrich Wilhelms University of Bonn, Germany, in 1996. In 2009, I completed my PhD at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at Karolinska Institutet (KI), Sweden.

From 2011 to 2014, I pursued postdoctoral studies in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto, Canada, under the mentorship of Professor Alison Fleming. During this time, I contributed to the “Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment (MAVAN)” study—a prospective, longitudinal, multi-center cohort project aimed at exploring how pre- and postnatal factors influence maternal health and child socio-emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. The study focused on biological, genetic, and environmental determinants.

Currently, I hold an Associate Professorship at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at KI. My primary research focus, supported by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, VR), is the “Immediate Parent-Infant Skin-to-Skin Contact Study (IPISTOSS)”. This randomized controlled multicenter clinical trial investigates the impact of early skin-to-skin contact between parents and very preterm infants on breastfeeding outcomes, as well as on various biological and psychological aspects of child development. I serve as the principal investigator of this study.

In addition to my research, I work as a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health at KI, where I am actively involved in pedagogical development and teaching within the midwifery program. To give a few examples, I have led courses in scientific methods and supervised Master’s thesis projects.

My work has been supported by several funding agencies, including the Swedish Council for Work Life and Social Research (FORTE), the Fernström Foundation at KI, Sällskapet Barnavård at Karolinska Hospital, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research ((CIHR), with Professor Patrick McGown as PI)), Vetenskapsrådet (VR), Lilla Barnets Fond, Frimurarstiftelsen, Ekhagastiftelsen and the Kempe Carlgrenska Foundation.

My research mainly focuses on pregnancy, birth and the early postpartum period, including breastfeeding and infant development throughout the first two years of life. Together with my group, I study, in prospective longitudinal trials and in intervention studies, which maternal and paternal environmental factors and behaviours influence parenting and consequently, which of these influence infant development and health outcomes. For doing so, I use a bio-behavioral approach, where mostly quantitative research methods are used. To gain a deeper understanding of parental experiences or other phenomena, we use a qualitative research approach. My research is clinically focused and highly relevant for the field of midwifery.

My area of expertise is sexual, perinatal and reproductive health focusing on midwifery training and

education. I have been active in and been teaching at the midwifery program at the

Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, KI since 2009.

Supervision to doctoral degree

• Gunilla Lönnberg, Mindfulness Based Childbirth and Parenting – effects on parental and child health outcomes, 2020