Professor Ole Petter Ottersen was the University of Oslo’s elected rector for the period 1 August 2009 – 31 July 2017. From 1 August 2017 to 28 February 2023, he served as the President of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Currently, he is Acting Secretary-General of The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities
Ole Petter Ottersen was appointed professor of medicine at the University of Oslo in 1992. He has been head of the Department of Anatomy (1997-1999), Research Dean of the Faculty of Medicine (2000- 2002), Director of one of Norway’s Centres of Excellence (Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience, 2002-2009) and from 2009 to 2017 UiO’s rector. In his period as rector, he has led the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (2013- 2015) and NUS- Det nordiske universitetssamarbetet (2013-2015). Ottersen has led one of UiO’s interdisciplinary initiatives (EMBIO; now UiO:Life Science) and one of the major national programs (Functional Genomics in Norway) of the Norwegian Research Council. He has coordinated two projects under the EU Framework Programme. Ottersen coordinated one of the first three Nordic Centres of Excellence in Molecular Medicine, funded by NordForsk. From 2006 to 2009 he was Chief Editor of Neuroscience – the official journal of the international brain research organization (IBRO).
Ottersen has for many years been engaged in international institutional evaluations and has served as panel leader (both Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants) in the European research Council (ERC). He was Founding President of The Guild of Research-Intensive Universities – a European university network that aims to provide its members with a strong voice in the further development of the EU’s Framework Programme. Ottersen led the Lancet Commission that studied the political determinants of global health inequalities (The Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health). Ottersen has served at a number of boards at home and abroad, including the Board of the Oslo University Hospital. He was Chairman of Samarbeidsorganet (Joint Council) of the regional health authority (Helse Sør-Øst) and University of Oslo, alternating with the Director of Helse Sør-Øst. He has led several prize award committees including the Kavli Prize Committee in Neuroscience.
Ottersen has taught medical students since 1976 and has academic quality, internationalization, innovation, and dissemination among his core priorities. Ottersen has several honorary doctorates and has received a number of awards including the Anders Jahre Medical Prize and Lundbeck’s Nordic Research Prize (the latter shared with Jon Storm-Mathisen). He is editor of several books and has an h-factor of 114. His work has been cited over 50,000 times (Google Scholar).
