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Susanne Bejerot

Position: Post Retirement Professor School/office: School of Medical Sciences

Email: susanne.bejerot@oru.se

Phone: +46 701 655102

Room: USÖ

Research subject

Medicine

Research environments

Nutrition-Gut-Brain Interactions Research Centre (NGBI)

About Susanne Bejerot

Research area: Psychiatry

Susanne Bejerot is Professor of Medical Science. She is a specialist in psychiatry and trained psychotherapist in cognitive-behavioral therapy. Her research is mainly clinical and focus on symptoms and outcome for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Pediatric Acute-Onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) schizophrenia spectrum disorder, ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (with or without intellectual disability). She has worked with research on pharmacological treatments for OCD, PANS, ADHD as well as psychological treatments for adults with autism or OCD. In recent years she has focused on immunopsychiatry, which is a novel field of research. Clinical and preclinical research support an association between immunological vulnerability and psychiatric illness. This opens new venues for diagnosis and treatments.

Susanne Bejerot has also been conducting research on psychiatric co-morbidity, personality disorders, dental health, vitamin D deficiency, gender identity issues, poor motor skills in relation to bullying, joint hypermobility, and psychiatric rating scales. A questionnaire, the PsychoNeuroInflammatory related Signs and Symptoms Inventory (PNISSI) designed to facilitate assessment of complicated psychiatric conditions with suspected inflammation mediated disorder is currently tested (and is freely available on request).

Ongoing studies involve the following projects: Internet treatment for adults with autism; Immunological markers in psychiatric patients and Rituximab (an immunomodulatory drug) for treatment of severely ill patients with psychosis. After finalizing two open pilot trials on OCD and schizophrenia in 2022 she will sponsor a large multicenter randomized placebo-controlled trial with rituximab on patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

The goal is clinical anchored research for psychiatric patients with life-long disabilities and substantial needs. In collaboration with other researchers she hopefully will identify biological markers that can provide support for future inflammation modulating treatments for the most severely affected psychiatric patients and find helpful treatment strategies.

CV

2015 - Professor, School of medical sciences, Örebro University
2010 - Associate professor, department of clinical neuroscience, Karolinska institutet
2000 - Doctor of medical science, Uppsala University
1997 - Certified psychotherapist (CBT)
1995 - Specialist in general psychiatry
1989 - Medical doctor, Karolinska Institutet

Doctoral thesis

Obsessive-compulsive disorders – personality traits and disorders, autistic traits and biochemical findings, Uppsala University, 2000.

Supervision

Sofia Sigra, ‘Rits-P. Rituximab: Immunotherapy for severe psychiatric disorder’ Co-supervisor: Daniel Eklund (ongoing).
Martin Glans, ‘General joint hypermobility and its association to ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and motor skills’. 2022. Co-supervisor: Marie Elwin.
Ulrika Hylén, Department of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, ImmunoBrain – Inflammation as a source for psychiatric disorder. 2022. Co-supervisor: Eva Särndahl.
Eva Hesselmark, Karolinska Institutet, ‘Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Syndrome - symptoms, biomarkers, assessment and treatment’. 2019. Co-supervisor: Gustav Nilsonne.
Jonna Eriksson, Karolinska Institutet, ‘Beyond the extreme male brain theory for autism‘ 2016. Co-supervisor: Elias Eriksson.
Irina Manouilenko, Karolinska Institutet, Autism spectrum disorder in adults - biological dimensions’ 2013. Co-supervisor: Marco Pagani

Co-supervisor:

Britta Westerberg, ‘I-ALMA – Internetbased treatment for adults with autism spectrum disorder’ supervisor: Fredrik Holländare (ongoing).
Katarzyna Popiolek, Institutionen för Medicinska vetenskaper, Örebro Universitet, Result from electroconvulsive therapi in bipolar disorder. Supervisor: Axel Nordenskjöld (on-going)
Eleonore Rydén MD, department of Clinical neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet ‘Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Bipolar Disorder‘, 2010. Supervisor: Mikael Landén

Post doc supervisor:

My Blomqvist, dentist, department of Odontology, Karolinska institutet, ’Assessment of dental health in adults with ADHD and autism spectrum disorder’ 2008-2010. Supervisor: Göran Dahllöf