MIMS Clinical Research Fellows

In order to strengthen the clinical research and more closely incorporate preclinical and clinical research locally and nationally, MIMS decided in 2009 to initiate a program for Clinical Fellows. MIMS awards Clinical Research Fellowships to clinicians with a recent PhD and a strong research background.

The award comes with up to 12-month research time for the fellow and two years of a postdoctoral researcher to work in collaboration with a MIMS PI, or a PI at another Nordic Partnership node or EMBL, plus support for consumables. This meaningful link between clinical projects and basic research conducted at MIMS or its partners has proven to be successful for covering all translational aspects from bench to bedside. Every medical faculty in Sweden has been represented in the MIMS Clinical Research Fellowship Programme.

Since the establishment of the fellowship programme in 2009, MIMS has awarded 19 research fellowships to clinicians at university hospitals across Sweden. 
Close to 80 research papers published by active MIMS Clinical Research Fellows during 2019-2024. 

 

The call for MIMS Clinical Research Fellowships 2027 is now open. See all details here. 


Active MIMS Clinical Research Fellows

Vanja Lunberg Wiraeus, University of Gothenburg.

Vanja Lundberg Wiraeus

Immunologist and a paediatric resident, Gothenburg

Sara Gredmark Russ, Karolinska Institute

Anne Tuiskunen Bäck

Cardiology resident, Umeå

Alicia Lind, Umeå universitet

Alicia Lind

Resident physician in anesthesia and intensive care, and researcher, Umeå

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wearing a blue and white striped shirt, standing outdoors on a city street with
blurred buildings and greenery in the background

Inga Rimkute

Resident, Sahlgrenska University Hospital and Gothenburg University

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with a red "Läkare" (Doctor) name tag and hospital ID badge, leaning against a
railing inside a modern hospital building with a glass atrium and city buildings
visible in the background.

Sara Cajander

Senior consultant physician and adjunct associate professor, Örebro University Hospital and Örebro University

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wearing a black shirt, standing against a plain light-coloured wall.

Victor Yman

Resident and research specialist, Södersjukhuset and Karolinska Institutet


Research description

Vanja Lundberg Wiraeus

Immunologist at Gothenburg University and a paediatric resident at Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital in Gothenburg, where she has been involved in treating patients with Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI).

Her research focuses on setting up a translational workflow to validate genetic findings in children with IEI, a group of immune system disorders that can result in severe infections, autoimmune diseases, inflammation, allergies or even cancer. In her MIMS CRF project, she will work with Emma Haapaniemi at the Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway, University of Oslo, and assess the effectiveness of the CRISPR correction technique as a personalized treatment for patients with IEI. 


Anne Tuiskunen Bäck

Cardiology resident at Umeå University Hospital, and her current research focuses on the genetic characterization of virus isolates from patients to better understand the role of viruses in disease progression, adopting a strongly translational, bench-to-bedside perspective.

In her MIMS CRF project, she will particularly investigate the genetic diversity and pathogenesis of Nephropathia Epidemica (“sorkfeber” in Swedish), caused by the Puumala virus, and viral myocarditis, inflammation of the heart muscle, together with former MIMS Clinical Research Fellow Anne-Marie Fors Connolly and MIMS Investigator Laura Caroll, both from Umeå University. 


Alicia Lind

Resident physician in anesthesia and intensive care and a researcher at the Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Umeå University and Umeå University Hospital.

The goal of her research is to develop better methods for diagnosis and prognosis of life-threatening infections by studying how biomarkers in the metabolism change during acute infection and recovery. In her MIMS CRF project, she will work towards improving diagnostics and outcomes of post-COVID condition. 


Inga Rimkuté

Clinical resident at Clinical Immunology and Transfusion Medicine at Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg. 

In her CRF project, she aims to develop effective countermeasures against human norovirus infection. At Umeå University, she will work on the project together with Marta Bally, associate professor at the Department of Clinical Microbiology. 


Sara Cajander

Senior consultant physician at Örebro University Hospital and assistant professor at Örebro University.

Her research focus lies in infectious diseases with a focus on systemic inflammation and immune dysregulation. She will focus on longitudinal experiemental studies in human inflammatory disease in the CRF-supported project, together with Johan Normark, clinician and associate professor at Umeå University and Umeå University Hospital. 


Victor Yman

Specialist physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Södersjukhuset, and postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Global Health, at Institute Pasteur and at the Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, in Stockholm. 

His MIMS CRF project aims at precision mapping virus-specific and cross-reactive antibodies for next-generation arbovirus diagnostics and surveillance tools, and will carry it out in collaboration with Mattias Forsell at the Department of Clinical Microbiology, Umeå University. 

 

Read the announcement article on the award recipients of the MIMS Clinical Research Fellowship from the 2026 call here. 

 


Former MIMS Clinical Research Fellows

Åsa Gylfe
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2011-2013
Topic: Strategies against antibiotic resistant bacterial infections: novel antibacterial compounds and rapid diadnosis with infection specific metabolites

Currently: Assistant professor/attending physician at Umeå University
Department of Clinical Microbiology


Alicia Edin
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2011-2013
Topic: Rapid diagnosis of community acquired pneumonia

Currently: Researcher/physician at Umeå University
Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences


Anders Johansson
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2011-2013
Topic: Molecular epidemiology and infection metabolomics

Currently: Professor/attending physician at Umeå University
Department of Clinical Microbiology


Johan Normark
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2011-2013
Topic: Malaria and bacterial concomitant infection

Currently: Associate professor/attending physician at Umeå University
Department of Clinical Microbiology


Peter Bergman
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2013-2015
Topic: Vitamin D and human immunity - experimental and clinical studies

Currently: Professor/senior physician at Karolinska Institute
Department of Laboratory Medicine


Arvid Edén
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2013-2015
Topic: Central nervous system viral "escape" and neuronal damage in HIV-1 infection

Currently: Researcher at University of Gothenburg
Department of Infectious Diseases


Josef Järhult
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2013-2015
Topic: Antimicrobial resistance in a One Health perspective

Currently: Professor at Uppsala University
Department of Medical Sciences


Fredrik Kahn
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2013-2015
Topic: Bacterial manipulation of host defence systems in sepsis

Currently: Researcher at Lund University
Infection Medicine


Sofia Nyström
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2013-2015
Topic: Immunomodulatory effects exerted by HIV-1 on dendritic cells and the induction of regulatory suppressor T cells

Currently: Adjunct associate professor, docent at Linköping University
Department of Biomedical Sciences


Lisa Påhlman
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2018-2022
Topic: Acute and chronic airway infections in cystic fibrosis

Currently: Researcher/physician/associate professor at Lund University
Infection Medicine


Piotr Nowak
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2018-2022
Topic: The studies of gut microbiome in HIV and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections

Currently: Adjunct senior lecturer at Karolinska Institute
Department of Medicine


Anne-Marie Fors Connolly
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2020-2024
Topic: Mechanisms underlying cardiovascular complications caused by hemorrhagic fever virus infection

Currently: Assosciate professor at Umeå University
Department of Clinical Microbiology


Sara Gredmark Russ
MIMS Clinical Research Fellow 2020-2024
Topic: Identification of host cell factors required for tick-borne encephalitis virus infection and replication

Currently: Senior lecturer, docent at Karolinska Institutet
Department of Medicine

Latest update: 2026-11-02 Page editor: Nora Lehotai

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