”My goal is to complete my ongoing PhD projects and continue our good specialized collaboration.”

Birgit Stark, born in Cologne in 1955, moved to Sweden in 1992. Birgit obtained specialist qualifications in surgery and plastic surgery in Germany. She obtained her PhD in 1999 at the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, and became an Associate Professor of Plastic Surgery in 2007.

Since 2005 Birgit is responsible for the care of patients with facial paralysis at Karolinska University Hospital. Several new treatment strategies have been introduced and are under scientific evaluation. Furthermore, Birgit has a special interest in women with breast cancer and has been the main supervisor of a thesis project with defence in 2010. On behalf of the professional associations of plastic surgery, she has founded a quality register for breast implants which has now gained international interest. To read Birgit's 2016 annual report for the BRIMP (Breast Implant Registry), see this file.

Since 2001, Birgit has been collaborating with Professor Karin Strigård and later also with Professor Ulf Gunnarsson. Their collaboration in the research group has resulted in several joint projects that shed light on the function of the abdominal wall in different disease contexts. Birgit has been the main supervisor in the work where the function of the abdominal wall was studied in abdominal wall diastasis. A joint thesis on reconstruction of large scar hernias was defended in November 2016, in which Birgit was co-supervisor.

Main supervisor: Ebba Swedenhammar 

Christoffer Odensten, works as a consultant at Sunderby Hospital, Luleå.

Doctorate in 2023 with the thesis Aspect of parastomal hernia.

Main supervisor for: Johanna Östberg

Publications in Diva

Publications in PubMed

Senior physician at the colorectal section, Capio St. Göran's Hospital.

Fredrik Brännström received his doctorate in 2014 with the thesis "The impact of structural factors in colon and rectal cancer surgery". His research mainly concerns colorectal cancer but also proctology. He has expertise in epidemiological methods and biostatistics, which includes teaching as well as assistance with complex analyzes and methodological approaches within the research group.

Publications

Joint supervisor for: Karin Adamo, Niillas Blind

Ioannis Gkekas works as a consultant at the Surgery Centre at Norrland University Hospital in Umeå.

He received his PhD in 2021.

Publications

Supervisor for T10 student Melina Charalimbidi

Mikael works as a consultant at Skellefteå Lasarett.

Doctorate in 2022.

Publications

Studies: PROSECO 

Main supervisor for Annie Silfvenius

Jonna Wilén is a senior lecturer in radiophysics and a medical physicist at the Department of Diagnostics and Intervention at Umeå University.

Doctorate in 2013.

Publications

Main supervisor for David Thalén and Jeff Wennerlund

Associate professor and senior surgeon, Centre for Digestive Diseases, Karolinska University Hospital

His disputation in 2003, at the Karolinska Institute, had the title “On the clinical value of genetic analysis in colorectal cancer patients”. Since then he has worked clinically and scientifically in the field of colorectal cancer, and subsequently inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with a special responsibility at Karolinska, presently Solna, for the later activity. A number of scientific publications with a focus on genetic analysis and colorectal cancer, later also within immunology and IBD have been published. Collaborates with “Center for Infectious Medicine” (CIM) as well as “Center for Molecular Medicine” (CMM). Supervisor of PhD students within genetics, morphology and cancer.

Within CLISTER, Ulrik supervises Pontus Gustafsson. Ulrik is also one of the researchers responsible for the study LISTO.

Publications

Studies: LISTO

Main supervisor for: Pontus Gustafsson

First Research Engineer at the Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Umeå University.

Urban defended his PhD in 2010 on hyaluronan in cardiac hypertrophy. He conducts research on hereditary heart diseases, rheumatic diseases and metabolic diseases and supervises students in the lab. His research interest is the role of extracellular matrix in growth and inflammation in pathological and healthy tissue. The metabolism of the glucosaminoglycan hyaluronan and its link to energy metabolism and glucose has developed into Urban's research focus.

Over the years, he has collaborated on hyaluronan metabolism in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, psoriatic arthritis, pancreatic cancer, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus, keloid, scleroderma, respiratory papilloma and developed new methods for analyzing hyaluronan.

Publications

Main supervisor for: Anton Östevind

Senior surgeon at Lasarettet i Enköping

Teaching fields: Abdominal wall surgery, colorectal surgery

Research fields: Abdominal hernia (inguinal, femoral and ventral)

Publications

Main supervisor for: Linn Westin

Doctor of Medicine and ST physician in general surgery, currently active at the Lycksele Surgical Center, Västerbotten.

Disputed in 2021 in Sunderbyn at Umeå University with the thesis "Autologous full-thickness skin graft as reinforcement material in the repair of complex hernias". The thesis work resulted in the SHIFT study, which constitutes a large part of the current research work as one of the study's principal researchers. The study evaluates a new surgical method for the repair of stoma hernia with autologous full skin as reinforcement material. SHIFT also includes a translational part where tissue samples taken peri- and postoperatively are examined to better understand the underlying tissue biology of hernia disease.

Is assistant supervisor to Gunnar Nordqvist and will thus also be involved in his thesis project on prehabilitation before hernia surgery.

Publications

Main supervisor for: Gunnar Nordqvist