I am delighted that Umeå University has announced my appointment as future Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS). Umeå University has since the very beginning of its 50-year history built a strong reputation in infectious disease research. Under the leadership of its founding director, Professor Bernt Eric Uhlin, MIMS has in recent years come to represent this tradition.
I am impressed not only by the excellent research done at MIMS over the years, but also by the strong team spirit and sense of purpose shared by its scientists, which together with the committed support from the university account for its success.
Faced with many global challenges, infectious disease research also needs to be global. It is therefore great to see MIMS in partnership with other Nordic centres of excellence in molecular medicine and with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, which together form the Nordic EMBL Partnership for Molecular Medicine. I look forward to working with our partners, and I could not think of a better challenge than to help shape the future of MIMS as its future director.