Björn Dahlbäck received the medal on June 24 at the opening ceremony of ISTH's congress held in Montréal for the thirty-first time. He also gave the congress' opening plenary lecture in front of an audience of roughly 5,000 people.
Hello there Björn, how does it feel to receive the Robert P. Grant medal?
“It is a great honor and joy to receive this award. Past laureates have been enormously skilled and successful researchers and it is an honor to now be one of them. The award means a lot to me because I have been doing research in this field for 46 years, and receiving this medal really feels like a great recognition for that.”
What are you currently doing in your research area?
“Right now, we are studying one of our newly discovered mechanisms for how blood coagulation is regulated. We discovered this new mechanism in connection with investigating the pathophysiological mechanism of a previously unknown bleeding disorder. And this discovery is one of the reasons why I get the medal.”
What are your future plans?
“For the future, we have many interesting research publications, however, I have not managed to get enough funding to be able to continue with my research. Unfortunately, I have discovered that after retirement it has become increasingly difficult to get grants, even if one's research goes very well and gives good and exciting results for continued research.”