Carol Tishelman - Biography#

Carol Tishelman was born in and educated as a RN in the US, but has lived in Sweden for > 40 years. She became full Professor of Nursing at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in 2006, and now holds an Endowed Chair in Innovative Care, integrating health and social care. This unique competitive position, funded by Investor AB, is located at KI’s Dept of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics where she co-leads the Division for Innovative Care Research, with ~20 researchers. CT is also employed at the Stockholm Health Care Services (all regional care outside non-acute care hospitals) and the Center for Rural Medicine in Northern Sweden to increase research impact in various care settings.

Carol Tishelman has a long commitment to cancer prevention, understanding symptoms and care delays, improving cancer and end-of-life (EoL) care and enhancing stakeholder experiences. Her work has affected policy, practice and innovation and advanced recognition of nursing research in Sweden. CT has supported junior colleagues in academia and in practice, to develop future leaders and ensure that research has impact in practice.

Carol Tishelman leads the unique transdisciplinary DöBra research program, combining EoL care, public health and health promotion, and was instrumental in initiating support for biobehavioral health care research, to integrating the biological and experienced body. CT has also conducted research on organization of nursing care and participated in largescale EU projects in this area.

Carol Tishelman was active in developing psychosocial oncology and cancer nursing research in Sweden and Europe, as a founding board member of the Nordic Society for Psychosocial Oncology, and with elected positions on the steering boards of the European Society for Psychosocial Oncology, the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care, and the European Society for Palliative Care. She has been affiliated with several international universities since 2004 and is active in international research initiatives, e.g. led a Swedish module of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Oncology Nursing Society in 2016.