Peder Olofsson

– Inflammation is the body’s defence against damage. It entails the activation of the immune system to heal the damage, but unfortunately the response can become chronic. Since many illnesses feature inflammation as a symptom, the idea was quickly conceived to attempt to activate the vagus nerve to reduce inflammation, and this can be done with electrical current. The clinical study of vagus nerve stimulation in the treatment of refractory inflammatory bowel disease has given us experience of the potential clinical applications of bioelectronic medicine and provided valuable information for a larger clinical trial, says Peder Olofsson. 

Peder Olofsson is Head of Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine at Karolinska Institutet. He is trained in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and is a Diplomate of the European Academy of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine with more than 10 years of clinical experience. He also holds a PhD in experimental medicine from the Karolinska Institutet and is a research leader for the team in Neural regulation of inflammation. Dr Olofsson is also a Faculty Member, Professor, at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York.