Dr. Elisabet Svenungsson

Dr. Elisabet Svenungsson is Professor of Medicine and Senior consultant in Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Solna/Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm Sweden.

Elisabet is a graduate of the Karolinska Institutet where she obtained her medical degree and trained in rheumatology and internal medicine. Her studies on risk factors for cardiovascular disease in SLE were the basis for her PhD thesis, also from Karolinska. Together with associate professor Dr. Iva Gunnarsson she founded the Karolinska SLE cohort in 1995; this cohort now comprises detailed information on over 600 SLE patients and a matched control population. More recently, she has initiated a cohort of patients with the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS).

Clinical studies on SLE and APS are the core of Dr. Svenungsson’s research. Premature vascular disease is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in SLE and APS and to understand its underlying pathophysiology is a major aim. A key observation is that SLE subgroups differ with regard to disease presentation and risk factors. Pro-thrombotic antiphospholipid antibodies as well as renal disease with accelerated atherosclerosis are major contributors to premature vascular disease, but these two risk factors seem to be independent of each other and will likely benefit from different preventive strategies.

She is currently a provisional member of SLICC.

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