Hugo Lagercrantz

Hugo Lagercrantz is professor of pediatrics at the Karolinska Institute since 1989. He was Director of the Neonatal Programme at the Astrid Lindgren Children´s Hospital until 2004 and is still clinical consultant.
He has been president of the Swedish Pediatric Society and the European Society for Pediatric Research. He has also been European Chief Editor of Pediatric Research and is presently Editor- in-Chief of Acta Paediatrica. He is a member of the Nobel Assembly since 1994.
His main research area is the stress reactions of the body at birth and medical problems that arise when life starts too early. A special interest concerns the control of breathing in newborn children and the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). During the last years, his research has also been devoted to brain development particularly of infants, who are born too early. By studying how children process stimulation of the senses, such as smell, pain or the vision of a face, he tries to understand how consciousness arise and what happens when there is an abnormal development of the brain.