Norrsken Mind today announces the appointments of Christina Rångemark Åkerman, former Director General of the Swedish Medical Products Agency, Carl Johan Fürst, Professor emeritus of palliative medicine at Lund University, and Mikael Horal, former Head of Fundraising at Karolinska Institutet, as new board members. 

After several years on the board of Norrsken Mind, Åsa Nilsonne and Dorotea Bromberg decided to make their seats available to focus on other endeavors. 

“I want to thank Åsa and Dorotea for their valuable contributions to the board and extend a sincere welcome to our new board members. In Christina, Carl Johan and Mikael, the board gains valuable competence spanning across the foundation’s focus areas - research, education and implementation. Their experience will further support the foundation’s work to improve the understanding of the therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances and lay the foundation for patient access,” says Helena Dandenell, Chair of Norrsken Mind. 

Christina is a Medical Doctor, specialist in Clinical Pharmacology, with extensive experience from the public and private healthcare sector. She served for six years as Director General of the Swedish Medical Products Agency and as board member of the European Medicines Agency. Previously she held positions as Vice President Medical at AstraZeneca Sweden and Marketing Company President at AstraZeneca Philippines. Her focus on the unmet needs of patients led to Boston as President of the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement. Christina is currently a member of Gilde Healthcare’s Impact Council, among other assignments.

Carl Johan is senior professor of palliative medicine and formerly director of the Institute for Palliative Care at Lund University and Region Skåne. He is a specialist in oncology with extensive clinical and academic experience, having dedicated most of his career to improving care at the last stages of life for patients with incurable cancer. Carl Johan has served as a member of the Ethics Committee of The Swedish Society of Medicine, an expert advisor on palliative care for the Swedish government, and board member of several national and international professional organisations. 

Mikael began his career as a Medical Doctor at Huddinge Hospital, specialising in paediatrics, before spending close to a decade working in finance, including as Managing Director for Investor Growth Capital with a focus on investments in early-stage life science companies. He was appointed Head of Fundraising at Karolinska Institutet in 2007, leading the university’s fundraising efforts for more than ten years. Mikael is currently the Executive President of Bohemia Properties.

About Norrsken Mind

Norrsken Mind is a foundation focused on supporting research on psychedelic substances and their potential to treat mental health disorders. We aim to improve the understanding of psychedelic-assisted therapies and catalyse progress towards treatment implementations in Europe. Norrsken Mind is a continuation of Osmond Foundation, which funded the first modern Swedish clinical trial using psilocybin-assisted therapy to treat depression at Karolinska Institutet.

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