Karolinska Institutet’s new Vice-Chancellor to be installed
On Friday 29th September 2017, Karolinska Institutet’s new Vice-Chancellor Ole Petter Ottersen will be installed at a ceremony in Aula Medica in Stockholm, Sweden.
Guests include the Minister for Higher Education and Research, Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Stockholm County Council Finance Commissioner Irene Svenonius, and Mikael Odenberg, Chair of the University Board.
Ole Petter Ottersen took up the position of Vice-Chancellor of Karolinska Institutet (KI) on 1 August 2017 after eight years as Rector of the University of Oslo and a long academic career.
He succeeds acting Vice-Chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright, who now returns to her position as Pro-Vice-Chancellor.
“Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading universities that I myself have always had the highest respect for,” Ole Petter Ottersen says.
He goes on to say that the measures taken by the university in recent years as a consequence of the Macchiarini case allow Karolinska Institutet to look ahead.
“There are so many fantastic things going on at Karolinska Institutet, not least all the new buildings that are taking shape and all the opportunities this will open up for research and education. But the prerequisites for excellence in research and education is a good work culture and ethical awareness. With these prerequisites in place, our university has a brilliant future,” Ole Petter Ottersen says.
Ole Petter Ottersen was born in Kongsberg in Norway in 1955. He received his medical degree from the University of Oslo in 1980 and was awarded a PhD in 1982. He researches in neuroscience and is engaged in global health. Since 1992 he has been Professor of Medicine at the University of Oslo, where he was also Vice-Chancellor from 2009 until July 2017.
Among his previous commissions can be found international university evaluations and chair of one of the panels for Advanced Grants in the European Research Council (ERC). From 2002–2009, he headed the Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience, one of Norway's Centres of Excellence. He has led The Lancet – University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health, and until June this year was Chair and board member of the newly-established European University network, The Guild of Research Intensive Universities.
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Karolinska Institutet is one of the world’s leading medical universities. Its vision is to significantly contribute to the improvement of human health. Karolinska Institutet accounts for the single largest share of all academic medical research conducted in Sweden and offers the country’s broadest range of education in medicine and health sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine.
