Interview: Future of colorectal surgery

Abstract

Lars Påhlman was born in 1946. He graduated at Sigtunaskolan, Sweden, in 1966 and from the Medical School at Uppsala University in 1973, before moving to the District General Hospital in Falun where he had his surgical training. Professor Påhlman moved back to Uppsala in 1979 as a consultant surgeon and finished his PhD thesis on rectal cancer in 1985. In 1987, he had a position as a Reader in Surgery at Uppsala University and since 1999 as a Professor of Surgery at the same university. Professor Påhlman’s main interests have been colorectal cancer, function disorders, diverticulosis and diverticulitis. He has been responsible for numerous randomized trials and has had more than 20,000 patients in different randomized trials regarding radiotherapy and rectal cancer, different adjuvant and palliative treatment in colorectal cancer, diverticulosis and diverticulitis, fissures, hemorrhoids and fistulas. His main research is administration of large randomized trials, including translational research. Professor Påhlman speaks to Launch Editor, Charlotte Barker, about colorectal cancer and surgery.