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Tomas Faresjö

Professor Emeritus

My research is basically all about understanding the "black box". That means the knowledge that we don't have. I am participating in several international research networks. Research to understand health inequalities is important to me.

To open up the "black box"

Many social determinants affect health in the population. Often these are just considered to be in a black box. My research is devoted to open up this black box and unveil its contents and to understand how social factors could be linked to health. To do this in international collaborations is what my research is all about.

It all started with interdisciplinary research

 I studied Sociology, Social Policy and Political Science and graduated for Bachelor of Arts (B A). During my PhD-student period I specialised in Medical Sociology and Epidemiology. I presented my PhD Thesis, a monograph entitled; "Social stratification and ill-health - in the Study of Men Born in 1913". The thesis was based in the field of Medical Sociology and Social Epidemiology and published both at the Philosophical Faculty at Linköping University and the Medical Faculty at Uppsala University.

From Primary Care to international research collaboration

I was for a long period participating in international collaborations with many comparative studies published, not least with the Clinic of Family and Social Medicine at the University of Crete in Greece. This has been supported by the Socrates fund and also other funds (FP7-Health) from the EU Commission. I also had some collaboration with the international pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Since ten years back I am leading an interdisciplinary research group directed towards community medicine and health and society; the “Twincities Research Group” including almost 20 researchers from different disciplines as members. In later years I have been involved in the development of a new biomarker for measuring prolonged stress, “cortisol in hair”. This new stress marker is now applied in several on going research projects, not least In analysis of data from the prospective ABIS-study.

Scientifically, I have now a publication list of over 150 publications (around 70 listed in PubMed) with different topics in public health, community medicine and social epidemiology, from internationally publications in “The Lancet” to Swedish text books (monographs) for university students.

I have been acting as scientific referee for several international medical journals for many years.

Contact

Follow me at ResearchGate

  

CV

  • 1978       BA Sociology
  • 1989       PhD in Medical Sociology
  • 1997       Associate professor/Reader in Medical Sociology
  • 2011       Professor in Medical Sociology

Field of Teaching

Today I teach mainly in the Medical Programme at Linköping university.

I have given lectures in the field of Medical Sociology, Social Epidemiology and Public Health. In 1997 I was appointed as associate professor in Medical Sociology at the Faculty of Health Sciences in Linköping. For a while I was engaged as Associate Professor in Community Medicine at The Nordic School of Public Health in Gothenburg, Sweden. For six years I was full time engaged as Director of Studies for all inter-professional learning at the Faculty of Health Sciences at Linköping university.

The years at the inter-disciplinary department of TEMA, Linköping University, has given me a broad insight and practice of inter-disciplinary research and collaboration. Problem-based learning as a pedagogical method is very familiar for me. As director of studies I was responsible for the pedagogical development of the programme integration and inter-professional learning at the Faculty of Health Sciences. I have participated in many examination committees in the Faculty for PhD dissertations. 

Research Collaborations

Publications

2023

Andrea Lebena, Åshild Olsen Faresjö, Tomas Faresjö, Johnny Ludvigsson (2023) Clinical implications of ADHD, ASD, and their co-occurrence in early adulthood-the prospective ABIS-study BMC Psychiatry, Vol. 23, Article 851 Continue to DOI
Charlotte Angelhoff, Tomas Faresjö, Anna Lena Sundell (2023) Measuring hair cortisol concentration, insomnia symptoms and quality of life in preschool children with severe early childhood caries - a case-control pilot study Acta Odontologica Scandinavica, Vol. 81, p. 508-516 Continue to DOI
Åshild Olsen Faresjö, Anh LeTran, Ole J. Olsen, Tomas Faresjö, Elvar Theodorsson, Michael Jones (2023) Measuring cortisol concentration in hair month-by-month two years retrospectively ALL LIFE, Vol. 16, Article 2172461 Continue to DOI
Pär Andersson White, Tomas Faresjö, Michael P. Jones, Johnny Ludvigsson (2023) Low maternal education increases the risk of Type 1 Diabetes, but not other autoimmune diseases: a mediating role of childhood BMI and exposure to serious life events Scientific Reports, Vol. 13 Continue to DOI
Åshild Olsen Faresjö, Julia Preinbergs, Mike Jones, Andrea Lebena, Elvar Theodorsson, Tomas Faresjö (2023) Decreased Testosterone Levels Precede a Myocardial Infarction in Both Men and Women American Journal of Cardiology, Vol. 186, p. 223-227 Continue to DOI

Research

Research groups

Gammalt fotografi av man med svetsarglasögon

Twincities Research Group - Social environment and health

The twin cities of Linköping and Norrköping are two equal sized cities in southeast Sweden. They are part of the same county council and have the same structure of health care. How could public health in two so similar cities be so different?
A pair of hands are putting a plaster on a red, flat wooden heart.

Stressheart

The research group Stressheart has developed an analysis method where the stress hormone cortisol is measured from human hair to study stress levels several months back in time, like the annual rings on a tree.
Jogging. Foto: Istock

Health and society

What is the impact of environmental and social changes when it comes to health development at individual, group or community level? How can we promote health? These are examples of questions that researchers in Health and society seeks to answer.

From Primary Care to international research collaboration

I was for a long period participating in international collaborations with many comparative studies published, not least with the Clinic of Family and Social Medicine at the University of Crete in Greece. This has been supported by the Socrates fund and also other funds (FP7-Health) from the EU Commission. I also had some collaboration with the international pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Since ten years back I am leading an interdisciplinary research group directed towards community medicine and health and society; the “Twincities Research Group” including almost 20 researchers from different disciplines as members. In later years I have been involved in the development of a new biomarker for measuring prolonged stress, “cortisol in hair”. This new stress marker is now applied in several on going research projects, not least In analysis of data from the prospective ABIS-study.

Scientifically, I have now a publication list of over 150 publications (around 70 listed in PubMed) with different topics in public health, community medicine and social epidemiology, from internationally publications in “The Lancet” to Swedish text books (monographs) for university students.

I have been acting as scientific referee for several international medical journals for many years.
Research to understand health inequalities is important to me
Tomas Faresjö, professor

Coworkers

Photo of Carl Johan Östgren

Carl Johan Östgren

Professor

Photo of Johnny Ludvigsson

Johnny Ludvigsson

Professor Emeritus

Photo of Staffan Nilsson

Staffan Nilsson

Adjunct Associate Professor, Docent

Photo of Gudjon Elvar Theodorsson

Gudjon Elvar Theodorsson

Professor Emeritus

Photo of Åshild Olsen Faresjö

Åshild Olsen Faresjö

Senior Associate Professor

Photo of Johnny Ludvigsson

Johnny Ludvigsson

Professor Emeritus

Photo of Carl Johan Östgren

Carl Johan Östgren

Professor

Organisation

Wordcloud research subjects at HMV

Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences (HMV)

The research areas at HMV include experimental basic research to clinical, social and public health research. We conduct high-quality education in the sought-after care professions.
Stetoscope on laptop

Division of Society and Health (SH)

We are an interdisciplinary division with research and education in several subject areas. The division consist of two units, Health Care Analysis and Public Health Science, and includes the Master´s programme in Medical Science.
Two people are hiking along a trail on a mountain. Both have large backpacks on and they are walking away from the camera.

Unit of Public Health

The Unit of Public Health conducts research and teaching in social medicine, public health science, medical education, nutrition and dietetics, implementation sciences, eHealth and sports medicine.

Related content

Older man with chest pain during running.

Long-term stress linked to increased risk of heart attack

Can stress lead to heart attacks? Most people would probably answer in the affirmative, but the scientific evidence of this is scarce. A new study, measuring a stress hormone in hair, suggests that long-term stress is a risk factor for heart attacks.

Greek crisis has biological health effects

Young adults in Greece suffer more from stress and mental health problems and are less optimistic about the future than Swedes of the same age, according to a study from Linköping University.

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