Two Honorary Doctors at the Sahlgrenska Academy in 2008
The board of the SahlgrenskaAcademy has nominated director of research and development Conny Persson and cardiac researcher Stephen G. Young as honorary doctors in 2008. They will be appointed at a special doctoral awards ceremony at the University of Gothenburg on 24 October.
An honorary doctorate at the Sahlgrenska Academy is a token of the great esteem in which their distinguished scientific or other contributions is held within the field of competence of the Academy. The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg has this year nominated director of research and development Conny Persson at the Sahlgrenska UniversityHospital, and the American cardiac researcher Stephen G. Young at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) as honorary doctors of medicine. Conny Persson is nominated as an honorary doctor of medicine for his great skill in linking more closely together the Sahlgrenska Academy and the Sahlgrenska University Hospital. His deep understanding of the requirements of teaching and research make the collaboration between the two organisations into a major factor in their success.
Conny Persson has in his employment in medical care collaborated very closely with the Sahlgrenska Academy. Over the past 15 years he has been a co-opted member of many of the Sahlgrenska Academy´s, and previously the medical faculty´s managerial bodies and working parties.
He has put a great deal of work into developing the collaboration between the faculty and medical care in Region Västra Götaland. His contribution to teaching and research through the ALF agreements (Agreements on Medical Education and Research), agreements on state remuneration for medical training and research at the university hospitals, has been of great significance for the university.
Conny Persson was born in Göteborg and took a Masters in Social Science (pol. mag.) at the University of Gothenburg in 1971. He subsequently took up his first post within medical care in Göteborg. During the years 1989—1994 he was director of Östra Hospital in Göteborg. Between 1994 and 1997 he was head of section in the regional health care office within the Göteborg medical service. Since 1997 he has been director of research and development at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital.
Stephen G. Young has been nominated an honorary doctor of medicine for providing an example in his great commitment to research and the training of younger co-workers. He is a pioneer in the development of animal models for illnesses such as arteriosclerosis and cancer. He has published more than 200 scientific articles and has been nominated “one of the top physicians in the USA 2003".
Stephen G. Young was educated at Princeton University and received his specialist training in cardiology at the University of California San Francisco and San Diego. During the period 1993 to 2004 he was head of Cardiology Research at San Francisco General Hospital. In 1996 he became a professor, and for the past four years has been head of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California Los Angeles.
