Name: Ann Göransson Nyberg Profession: Associate professor of physiology Age: 53 år Talent I would like to develop: I would like to write a tourist guide for disabled people in Sweden. Accessibility is unacceptably poor. It is impossible to find a hotel room in Stockholm that is properly adapted to disabled people. When Umeå will be Culture Capital of Europe in 2014, I want such a guide for Umeå.

Ann Göransson Nyberg is in charge of an EU project studying how the 27 member states are supposed to assist one another in handling mass casualties at a major radioactive or chemical accident. FOI has seconded her part-time to the European CBRNE centre at Umeå University, where she manages a coordinated effort by seven research institutes from five nations. The task is to plan and harmonize joint efforts at serious accidents that require extensive medical care at a European level. The project is supposed to run till the end of 2010.

“We study European plans for how to take care of casualties at a serious accident and categorise them according to their injuries. We also try to find standardised diagnostic tools that are able to determine what radioactive or chemical substances people have been exposed to,” she says.

The project will also point at shortcomings in mass casualty health care and provide recommendations to improve strategies for response and inter-service communication at the rescue services – quite a task.

Ann Göransson Nyberg explains: “There are plenty of strategies, but insufficient inter-agency communication in every country and even less across borders. Strategy development is of great importance, because if there is an accident in for instance Britain, the British authorities must know where to send casualties they cannot take care of.”

Ann Göransson Nyberg is also in charge of FOI’s part of the project: “We contribute by cataloguing existing diagnostic tools for determining the nature and severity of chemical injuries, preferably by a quick blood or saliva sample. We also want to issue recommendations how these tools are to be improved upon.”

Ann Göransson Nyberg is a researcher in the field of medical physiology. She gained her doctorate in 1985 for a study of how kidneys regulate blood pressure. She joined FOI in 1989. Her first assignment was to manage a project that developed an auto injector for the Swedish Defence Force.

She has also researched the health effects of long-term low-level exposure to toxic substances and the effects of fluorinated substances injurious to the environment. These substances are best known for their use in the production of Teflon and protective coatings. She has also published about 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

That’s impressive accomplishments, even more so for a woman who has been paralyzed from the neck and ventilator-dependent since 1991. This condition was caused by a common infectious virus that entered the spinal chord and destroyed nerve connections at the top of the spine.

“It is not so hard to work. I have a fantastic employer who lets me work in ways that suit my particular needs. Already when the disease was raging in my body, I was writing articles from the emergency ward. Research is genuinely entertaining, because it makes you a detective. Here at the agency you also have great opportunities to use your own ideas and do whatever you are best at,” she explains.

FOI’s strength is, according to Ann Göransson Nyberg, the employees’ broad competence, topped with a lot of unique world-class know-how. “For instance, our competence on hazardous substances is outstanding and it is located in one organization, not scattered across a dozen academic faculties. Our knowledge should be beneficial in the struggle against pollution, too. We have the know-how and the tools. It’s just a matter of putting them to use for less toxic substances.”

Ann Göransson Nyberg sees a lot of potential customers here: “For instance, the National Board of Health and Welfare, the pharmaceutical industry and the biotech business. But our know-how can also be used in medical or occupational health education, where we can teach how everything from car paints to industrial chemicals affects the human body.”