Jón Karlsson honored with Life Membership of ESSKA
For more than forty years, Jón Karlsson has made major contributions to orthopedics, especially knee surgery, both in Gothenburg and worldwide. Recently, he became a Life Member of the European Society ESSKA.
The full name of ESSKA is the European Society for Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy. The Society has now awarded Jon Karlsson a Life Membership, in honor of his exceptional contributions to the development and prestige of the Society.
Jón Karlsson has also been elected as an honorary member of ESSKA's sister association in the USA, the Arthroscopy Association of North America, AANA, and also the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine, ISAKOS, where he served on the board for 13 years. He is the only person in the world to have received these honorary appointments in all three associations simultaneously.
Loyal Gothenburg resident
In his youth back home in Iceland, he played basketball at an elite level, combined with his medical studies. He had originally planned to become a cardiologist, but at the last minute, with weeks left of his education in Reykjavik, a supervisor convinced him that orthopedics was the right path for him. He has never regretted the choice to continue his education in Gothenburg.
“Sahlgrenska is my home and I cannot think of a better place to work than in Gothenburg,” says Jón Karlsson, who has been equally loyal to IFK Gothenburg, the soccer club where he was team doctor for almost four decades.
He considers orthopedics to be the ultimate specialty, and is delighted that his daughter, Louise, has also chosen the same path for her medical career.
Enormous contribution
Recently turned 71, he has no plans to stop working, either as a scientist or a surgeon. When we meet, he has just had knee surgery. He is still supervising several PhD students and he also has ongoing book projects.
“I am currently writing a handbook on basic methods for clinical orthopedic research, in collaboration with Volker Musahl, who is a professor in Pittsburgh, but also a visiting professor at GU. Among other things, we describe the potential of new methods within clinical research,” says Jón.
Clearly, his contribution to orthopedics is significant. Over the years he has supervised 80 PhD students. In addition to all the articles he has co-authored, he has also written almost 50 books in orthopedics, many of them real cornerstones in education.
A leading journal
Until recently, Jón Karlsson was the editor-in-chief of ESSKA's scientific journal, Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy (KSSTA). During Jón Karlsson's 16 years as editor, the journal's impact factor increased significantly.
“It is now one of the three leading knee surgery journals in the world. It has been a very interesting job, which has also involved a lot of work. During my time in charge of the journal, the number of manuscripts submitted increased from 400 per year to 2000, and as editor I needed to read at least five articles every day,” says Jón, who still helps out as a reviewer for the journal.
At the ESSKA Congress in Milan earlier this year, he handed over the editor-in-chief title to Professor Michael Hirschman. It was also during this Congress, attended by around 4000 delegates, that Jón Karlsson was appointed Life Time Member. Honorary members usually talk about their own contributions to the field during their speeches, but Jón chose instead to highlight Einar Eriksson, the orthopedic surgeon in Stockholm who founded ESSKA in 1982 and was also the journal's first editor-in-chief.
“I traveled to Stockholm and met Einar, who is now 95 years old, and spent a whole day with him. He is indeed a prominent figure within our field. During my speech in Milan, I talked about Einar's amazing work, which was very much appreciated by the audience,” said Jón Karlsson.
Text: Elin Lindström