Jesper Lagergren

Jesper Lagergren

Professor/senior physician

About me

Academic surgeon focusing on oesophageal and gastric cancer and conditions associated with these tumours, i.e. gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, Barrett's oesophagus, obesity, peptic ulcer and Helicobacter pylori-infection.

Holder of two tenured combined professorships and senior consultant surgeon positions, one full-time at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, and one part-time at King's College London and Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London. 

Member of the Nobel Assembly.

Research description

Leader of the research group Upper GI Surgery

CV: MD in 1989, specialist surgeon in 1996, doctorate (PhD) in 1999, consultant surgeon in 2000, docent in surgery in 2001, associate professor of surgery in 2003 and professor of surgery since 2006, all at Karolinska Institutet, and professor and consultant surgeon at King's College London and Guy's and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust in London since 2010.

Supervision: Supervised 43 doctorate students to completed PhDs (23 as main supervisor). Presently supervising another 7 PhD students (6 as main supervisor). Previous supervisor of 20 post-doctoral researchers, and presently 2.

Publications: Over 400 peer reviewed articles, with the majority (63%) as last or first author, including these 20 selected papers:

1. Lagergren J, Bergström R, Lindgren A, Nyrén O. Symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux is a strong risk factor for esophageal adenocarcinoma. N Engl J Med 1999;340:825-31. Latest known journal impact factor (JIF) 176.1.

2. Lagergren J, Ye W, Bergström R, Nyrén O. Utility of endoscopic screening for upper gastrointestinal adenocarcinoma. JAMA 2000;284:961-2. JIF 157.3.

3. Nilsson M, Johnsen R, Ye W, Hveem K, Lagergren J. Obesity and estrogen as risk factors for symptomatic gastroesophageal reflux. JAMA 2003;290:66-72. JIF 157.3.

4. Lagergren J. Controversies surrounding body mass, reflux, and risk of oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Lancet Oncol 2006;7:347-9. JIF 54.4.

5. Blomberg J, Lagergren P, Martin L, Mattsson F, Lagergren J. Novel approach to antibiotic prophylaxis in percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG): randomised controlled trial. BMJ 2010;341:c3115. JIF 93.3.

6. Lagergren J, Lagergren P. Oesophageal cancer. BMJ 2010;341:c6280. JIF 93.3.

7. Lagergren J. Influence of obesity on the risk of esophageal disorders. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 2011;8:340-7. JIF 73.1.

8. Derogar M, Sadr-Azodi O, Johar A, Lagergren P, Lagergren J. Hospital and surgeon volume in relation to survival after esophageal cancer surgery in a population-based study. J Clin Oncol 2013;31:551-7. JIF 50.7.

9. Lagergren J, Lagergren P. Recent developments in esophageal adenocarcinoma. CA Cancer J Clin 2013;63:232-48. JIF 286.1.

10. Tao W, Lagergren J. Clinical management of obese patients with cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol 2013;10:519-33. JIF 65.0.

11. Markar SR, Mackenzie H, Johar A, Lagergren P, Hanna GB, Lagergren J. Surgical proficiency gain and survival after esophagectomy for cancer. J Clin Oncol 2016;34:1528-36. JIF 32.9. JIF 50.7.

12. Lagergren J, Smyth E, Cunningham D, Lagergren P. Oesophageal cancer: Seminar. Lancet 2017;390:2383-96. JIF 202.7.

13. Maret-Ouda J, Wahlin K, El-Serag HB, Lagergren J. Recurrence of gastro-oesophageal reflux symptoms following laparoscopic antireflux surgery in a nationwide cohort study. JAMA 2017;318:939-46. JIF 157.3.  

14. Sverdén E, Markar S, Agreus L, Lagergren J. Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding. BMJ 2018;363:k4023. JIF 93.3.

15. Ness-Jensen E, Gottlieb-Vedi E, Wahlin K, Lagergren J. All-cause and cancer-specific mortality in GORD in a population-based cohort study (the HUNT study). Gut 2018;67:209-15. JIF 31.8.

16. Sverdén E, Agréus L, Dunn JM, Lagergren J. Peptic ulcer disease. BMJ 2019;367:l5495. JIF 93.39.

17. Kauppila J, Tao W, Santoni G, von Euler-Chelpin M, Lynge E, Tryggvadóttir L, Ness-Jensen E, Romundstad P, Pukkala E, Lagergren J. Effects of obesity surgery on overall and disease-specific mortality in a 5-country, population-based study. Gastroenterology 2019;157:119-27.  JIF 33.9.

18. Maret-Ouda J, Markar SR, Lagergren J. Gastroesophageal reflux disease: A review. JAMA 2020;324:2536-47. JIF 157.3. 

19. Yanes M, Santoni G, Maret-Ouda J, Markar S, Ness-Jensen E, Kauppila J, Färkkilä M, Lynge E, Pukkala E, Tryggvadóttir L, von Euler-Chelpin M, Lagergren J. Mortality, Reoperation, and Hospital Stay Within 90 Days of Primary and Secondary Antireflux Surgery in a Population-Based Multinational Study. Gastroenterology 2021;160:2283-90. JIF 33.9.

20. Holmberg D, Santoni G, von Euler-Chelpin MC, Färkkilä M, Kauppila JH, Maret-Ouda J, Ness-Jensen E, Lagergren J. Incidence and mortality in upper gastrointestinal cancer after negative endoscopy for gastroesophageal reflux disease. Gastroenterology 2022;162:431-8.

Teaching portfolio

Docent in 2001 and professor since 2006. Currently mainly supervision of PhD students and post-docs, but also some supervision of master students and medical students in projects with us. Bedside-teaching in the clinics and at multi-disciplinary clinical conferences. Teacher at PhD courses. Organiser of seminars, workshops and conferences. Invited speaker at conferences both nationally and internationally.

Education

MD 1989

Specialist in Surgery 1996

PhD 1999

Academic honours, awards and prizes

​​​​​​

  • "Axel Hirsch Prize in Cancer Research" in 2002
  • "Major Research Scholarship in Surgery" in 2004 (first time ever awarded)
  • "The primary research supervisor at Karolinska" in 2007
  • "Distinguished Professor Award" in 2009
  • Elected as Fellow of the “European Academy of Cancer Sciences” in 2010
  • Leader of a research constellation judged as "Outstanding" (highest possible) by an external research assessment (ERA2010) in 2010-2011
  • "Skandia´s Lennart Levi Research Prize" in 2011
  • Elected as member of the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in 2017
  • “United European Gastroenterology Research Prize” for excellence in clinical research in 2017
  • "Hilda och Alfred Erikssons Prize awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 2020
  • Main supervisor of a PhD thesis awarded the "Dimitris N. Chorafas Prize" in 2022