Lars E Eriksson

Lars E Eriksson

Professor
Telephone: +46852483831
Visiting address: Alfred Nobels Allé 23, D2, Flemingsberg, 14183
Postal address: H1 Neurobiologi, vårdvetenskap och samhälle, H1 Omvårdnad Lars E Eriksson, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I obtained my UC in Nursing from University College of Health Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden in 1985 and worked clinically for more than ten years as an RN within the academic hospital system in the Stockholm area. I have held different positions as a nurse within the fields of hematology, clinical immunology and sexually transmissible infections including HIV. As a Research Coordinator I coordinated several phase II and III clinical trials in the fields of anti-retroviral therapy and therapeutic HIV vaccines. Doing translational research within the HIV field, I completed an MSc in Chemistry at Stockholm University in 2001 and a PhD in Nursing at Karolinska Institutet in 2003.

    At present, I am a Professor in Nursing at Karolinska Institutet where I am Associate and Vice Division Lead at the Division of Nursing, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society and the lead of the Lars E. Eriksson Research Group focusing on translational health care science research a by linking research, education and practice. I am also holding a part-time position as Professor in Nursing at the School of Health and Medical Sciences at City St George's, University of London, United Kingdom.

    Utbildning
    - Medicine doktor, Karolinska Institutet, 2003
    - Filosofie magister i kemi, Stockholms universitet, 2001
    - Sjuksköterskeexamen/legitimerad sjuksköterska, Stockholms läns landstings vårdhögskola, 1985

Research

  • With university degrees in both nursing and natural sciences (Chemistry), Lars' scientific profile has developed towards the branch in care science established as biobehavioural nursing research or translational nursing research. Even if there is no absolute consensus, biobehavioural nursing research could be defined as research that strives towards increased understandings of the links between biologic, behavioural and social manifestations of vulnerability and risk in different populations.

    Early in his research career, he combined scientific activity within nursing and biomedicine, mainly in the areas of HIV and sexual health. After the dissertation work, his research line has expanded to include studies of populations with other long-lasting or chronic conditions. He is PI for studies investigating quality of life, stigma and illness perception in children, young adults and adults with HIV infections and adults with MRSA infections. Furthermore, he is PI for a translational nursing research project on the early signs of lung cancer.

    Current and Recently Completed Grants / Activities
    Facilitating lung cancer diagnosis: linking the experienced body and the biological body for major improvement in precision in lung cancer screening - supported by the Vårdal Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Cancer Society in Stockholm, the Strategic Research Area Health Care Science and the Sjöberg Foundation (PI).

    Magnet4Europe: Improving Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Health Care Workplace - supported by European Commission, Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme (Swedish Senior PI).

    Key words
    Living with chronic or long-lasting conditions, Quality of life, Disease-related stigma, Sexual and reproductive health, HIV, MRSA, HPV, Lung Cancer, Cancer survivorship, Translational nursing research, Biomarker research, Symptom research, Patient reported outcomes, Surveys, Internet-based focus groups

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare
    10 December 2024 - 30 November 2026
    This project aims to create LGBTQ+ inclusive end-of-life (EoL) care using findings from the applicant’s Forte-funded postdoc research. Despite advances in LGBTQ+ rights, inequities persist in EoL-care for LGBTQ+ people, driven by factors such as limited intergenerational social support, minority stress, and a lack of LGBTQ+ competency among care staff. The concept of “queering the death system” refers to how LGBTQ+ people improve their own EoL experiences, for example by creating informal caring networks. EoL-care staff can contribute to queering the death system by implementing LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care practices, yet research shows that they require support to do so. This project responds to these societal needs by bringing together LGBTQ+ and EoL-care stakeholders to create partnerships, exchange knowledge, and implement LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care practices and education. “DöBra Rainbow Cafés” will serve as a platform for this work. These cafés were initially developed as part of the applicant’s research to create LGBTQ+ community support around EoL issues. In this impact project, cafés will be spaces in which LGBTQ+ and EoL-care stakeholders come together to develop LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care based on research in this field. Two café-formats will be developed: group-format cafés focus on sharing experiences and developing inclusive practices, while roundtable-format cafés concentrate on policy change. The cafés aim to create impact at three levels: personal/group (building partnerships, exchange knowledge, develop ideas for LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care), action-oriented (implementing LGBTQ+ EoL-care practices and education), and strategy-oriented (influencing policies). By centering LGBTQ+ voices and using a participatory approach that focuses on resilience and action, the project addresses persistent inequities in EoL-care and aims to create long-term impact towards LGBTQ+ inclusive EoL-care.
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2023 - 31 December 2025
    This nursing science precision health project, focus on complex interactions among biological, social, and behavioural factors, and their effects on outcomes. By researching patients’ experience of symptoms and linking these to biological data, we aim to increase the sensitivity and specificity of LC diagnosis and to aid in investigate molecular determinants of common symptoms, e.g. fatigue and cachexia. Furthermore, we aim to develop our measures for use to monitor treatment response in patients receiving immunotherapy. With previous VR funding (2016-1712, 2019-1222), we developed an interactive questionnaire, Peklung, to generate detailed descriptions about early health changes in LC and used it to collect data from ∼700 patients at diagnostic LC work-up
    in parallel we also collected plasma samples from  these patients. We apply here for continued VR funding to link patient-reported data from Peklung with biomolecular and imaging profiles, to determine biomarkers of LC and other lung diseases, and to investigate new molecular determinants of symptoms with unclear aetiology and mechanism, e.g. fatigue, cachexia. Establishing symptomatology related to early LC can: decrease diagnostic delay, with increased chance of curative treatment options and shorter time spans to curative or palliative treatment, thus reducing distress for patients/families
    connect detailed symptom with omics data to increase understanding of mechanisms of poorly understood symptoms.
  • Facilitating Early Diagnosis of Lung Cancer: Transdisciplinary Efforts Combining Data from Patient-Reports, Biomarkers and Imaging
    The Sjöberg Foundation
    1 January 2022 - 31 December 2024
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2022
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2017 - 31 December 2019
  • Swedish Research Council
    1 January 2009 - 31 December 2011

Employments

  • Professor, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, 2021-
  • Professor (0.2 FTE), School of Health and Psychological Sciences, City St George´s, University of London, 2020-
  • Affiliated Researcher Scientist, Medical Unit Infection, Karolinska University Hospital, 2013-
  • Reader (0.2 FTE), School of Health Sciences, City, University of London, 2013-2020

Degrees and Education

  • Docent, Karolinska Institutet, 2009
  • Doctor Of Philosophy, Dept of Nursing, Karolinska Institutet, 2003
  • Master of Science in Chemistry, Chemistry, HIV-1 DNA quantification by real-time PCR, Stockholm University, 2001
  • University Certificate in Nursing, General Nursing, Stockholm County Council University College of Caring, 1985

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