Ilona Grünberger

Professor of Health Equity Studies/Public Health Medicine at the Department of Public Health Sciences, Centre for Health Equity Studies (CHESS), Stockholm University since 2002. Previous employment as a Clinical Senior Lecturer in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom (1997-2002).

Visiting Professor of Social Epidemiology, especially Children and Adolescents, at the Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet 2015-2019, Affiliate at the Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, 2020-2021.

My background is in paediatrics and epidemiology and my main research interests include social determinants of health, developmental origins of health and disease, and paediatric and perinatal epidemiology.

I have initiated and led several projects on social and life course determinants of health, and contributed to activities of the South Africa - Sweden University Forum (SASUF), and the Mothers and Their Children’s Health (MaTCH) study at the University of Queensland. I have extensive experience from register based and life course research, and have previously served e.g. as the principal investigator of the Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study, a co-investigator within the Swedish Initiative for Research on Microdata in the Social and Medical Sciences (SIMSAM) Lund project, and a coordinator of the work of Swedish partners in the Ageing Trajectories of Health: Longitudinal Opportunities and Synergies (ATHLOS) project and a project on Body size, Mental health and Inequalities (BMI).

I very much enjoy teaching and have extensive experience from teaching epidemiology and public health at universities in the United Kingdom and Sweden. I have served as a member of the steering group for the Swedish Interdisciplinary Graduate School in Register-Based Research (SINGS) as well as a Nordic Course in Register based research: Key concepts and principles for design and critical interpretation of Nordic register-based studies.

Research grants (selection):

- South Africa Sweden University Forum (SASUF), Principle investigator in Sweden, “Public health nutrition in the context of global public health: Capacity development for health education and public health through virtual exchange between Sweden and South Africa”: 2023-2024.

- Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), Principle Investigator, "Developmental origins of women’s health": 2019-2023.

- Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) & South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Principle Investigator in Sweden, "Body size, Mental health and Inequalities: A life course approach": 2017-2019.

- EC Horizon 2020, Co-applicant/Partner, Project ID 635316 "ATHLOS Ageing Trajectories of Health: Longitudinal Opportunities and Synergies": 2015-2020.

- Swedish Research Council (VR), Principle Investigator, "Methods in register-based research in Life course and social epidemiology": 2014-2019.

- Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE), Principle Investigator, "Social mobility and health among Swedish men and women born 1915-2010: life course and intergenerational effects across the twentieth century": 2014-2017.

- Swedish Research Council (VR), Principle Investigator, "Intergenerational, early life, cognitive and social determinants of eating disorders": 2010-2013.

- Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FAS/FORTE), Principle Investigator, "Developmental origins of health inequality – maternal influences, growth in early life, reproduction, and health in adulthood": 2008-2013.

  Swedish Research Council (VR), Principle Investigator, "UBCoS Multigen: Supplementary data collection, development, maintenance and documentation of the database": 2008-2012.

- Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS), Principal Investigator, "Reproduction of health and health inequality across five generations": 2004-2007.

Publications (selection):

Boldis BV, Grünberger I, Helgertz J, Cederström A. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Labor Market Attachment: Sequence Analysis. Int J Public Health. 2025 Apr 14;70:1607889. doi: 10.3389/ijph.2025.1607889.

Wu YT, Gnanapragasam S, Sanchez-Niubo A, Hossin MZ, Grünberger I, Koskinen S, Cooper R, Prina M. Childhood socioeconomic position and healthy ageing: results from five harmonised cohort studies in the ATHLOS consortium. BMJ Public Health. 2025 Feb 26;3(1):e001590. doi: 10.1136/bmjph-2024-001590.

Houweling TAJ, Grünberger I. Intergenerational transmission of health inequalities: research agenda for a life course approach to socioeconomic inequalities in health. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2024 Jul 11:jech-2022-220163.

Houweling TAJ, Grünberger I. Intergenerational transmission of health inequalities: towards a life course approach to socioeconomic inequalities in health - a review. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2024 Jul 2:jech-2022-220162.

Boldis BV, Grünberger I, Cederström A, Björk J, Nilsson A, Helgertz J. Comorbidities in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a sibling study. BMC Womens Health. 2024 Apr 5;24(1):221. doi: 10.1186/s12905-024-03028-9.

Hossin MZ, Heshmati A, Koupil I, Goodman A, Mishra GD. Latent class trajectories of socioeconomic position over four time points and mortality: the Uppsala Birth Cohort Study. Eur J Public Health. 2022 Aug 1;32(4):522-527. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckac060.

Hossin MZ, Falkstedt D, Allebeck P, Mishra G, Koupil I. Early life programming of adult ischemic heart disease within and across generations: The role of the socioeconomic context. Soc Sci Med. 2021 Apr;275:113811. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113811.

Gondek D, Ploubidis GB, Hossin MZ, Gao M, Bann D, Koupil I. Inequality in hospitalization due to non-communicable diseases in Sweden: Age-cohort analysis of the Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study. SSM Popul Health. 2021 Jan 21;13:100741. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100741.

Sanchez-Niubo A, Forero CG, Wu YT, Giné-Vázquez I, Prina M, De La Fuente J, Daskalopoulou C, Critselis E, De La Torre-Luque A, Panagiotakos D, Arndt H, Ayuso-Mateos JL, Bayes-Marin I, Bickenbach J, Bobak M, Caballero FF, Chatterji S, Egea-Cortés L, García-Esquinas E, Leonardi M, Koskinen S, Koupil I, Mellor-Marsá B, Olaya B, Pająk A, Prince M, Raggi A, Rodríguez-Artalejo F, Sanderson W, Scherbov S, Tamosiunas A, Tobias-Adamczyk B, Tyrovolas S, Haro JM; ATHLOS Consortium. Development of a common scale for measuring healthy ageing across the world: results from the ATHLOS consortium. Int J Epidemiol. 2021 Jul 9;50(3):880-892. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyaa236.

Tyrovolas S, Panaretos D, Daskalopoulou C, Gine-Vazquez I, Niubo AS, Olaya B, Bobak M, Prince M, Prina M, Ayuso-Mateos JL, Caballero FF, Garcia-Esquinas E, Holger A, Scherbov S, Sanderson W, Gheno I, Koupil I, Bickenbach J, Chatterji S, Koskinen S, Raggi A, Pajak A, Tobiasz-Adamczyk B, Haro JM, Panagiotakos D. Alcohol Drinking and Health in Ageing: A Global Scale Analysis of Older Individual Data through the Harmonised Dataset of ATHLOS. Nutrients. 2020 Jun 11;12(6):1746. doi: 10.3390/nu12061746.

Gao M, Koupil I, Sjöqvist H, Karlsson H, Lalitkumar S, Dalman C, Kosidou K. Psychiatric comorbidity among women with endometriosis: nationwide cohort study in Sweden. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Sep;223(3):415.e1-415.e16. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2020.02.033.

Wu YT, Daskalopoulou C, Muniz Terrera G, Sanchez Niubo A, Rodríguez-Artalejo F, Ayuso-Mateos JL, Bobak M, Caballero FF, de la Fuente J, de la Torre-Luque A, García-Esquinas E, Haro JM, Koskinen S, Koupil I, Leonardi M, Pajak A, Panagiotakos D, Stefler D, Tobias-Adamczyk B, Prince M, Prina AM; ATHLOS consortium. Education and wealth inequalities in healthy ageing in eight harmonised cohorts in the ATHLOS consortium: a population-based study. Lancet Public Health. 2020 Jul;5(7):e386-e394. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30077-3.

Hossin MZ, Björk J, Koupil I. Early-life social and health determinats of adult socioeconoic position: associations ad trends across generations. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2020 May;74(5):412-420. doi: 10.1136/jech-2019-213209. 

Gao M, Allebeck P, Mishra GD, Koupil I. Developmental origins of endometriosis: a Swedish cohort study. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2019 Jan 19. pii: jech-2018-211811. doi: 10.1136/jech-2018-211811.

Gao M, Goodman A, Mishra G, Koupil I. Associations of birth characteristics with perimenopausal disorders: a prospective cohort study. J Dev Orig Health Dis. 2018 Oct 9:1-7. doi: 10.1017/S204017441800065X.

Holowko N, Jones M, Tooth L, Koupil I, Mishra GD. Socioeconomic Position and Reproduction: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Matern Child Health J. 2018;22:1713-1724. doi: 10.1007/s10995-018-2567-1.

Juárez SP, Goodman A, Koupil I. From cradle to grave: tracking socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in a cohort of 11 868 men and women born in Uppsala, Sweden, 1915-1929. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2016;70:569-75. doi: 10.1136/jech-2015-206547.

Chaparro MP, Koupil I. The impact of parental educational trajectories on their adult offspring's overweight/obesity status: a study of three generations of Swedish men and women. Soc Sci Med. 2014;120:199-207. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2014.09.024.

Koupil I, Tooth L, Heshmati A, Mishra G. Social patterning of overeating, binge eating, compensatory behaviours and symptoms of bulimia nervosa in young adult women: results from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Public Health Nutr. 2016;19:3158-3168.

Goodman A, Heshmati A, Koupil I. Family history of education predicts eating disorders across multiple generations among 2 million Swedish males and females. PLoS One. 2014;9(8):e106475. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0106475.

Mishra GD, Chiesa F, Goodman A, De Stavola B, Koupil I. Socio-economic position over the life course and all-cause, and circulatory diseases mortality at age 50-87 years: results from a Swedish birth cohort. Eur J Epidemiol. 2013;28:139-47. doi: 10.1007/s10654-013-9777-z

Goodman A, Koupil I, Lawson DW. Low fertility increases descendant socioeconomic position but reduces long-term fitness in a modern post-industrial society. Proc Biol Sci. 2012;279:4342-51.

De Stavola BL, Leon DA, Koupil I. Intergenerational correlations in size at birth and the contribution of environmental factors: The Uppsala Birth Cohort Multigenerational Study, Sweden, 1915-2002. Am J Epidemiol 2011;174:52-62.

Koupil I, Goodman A. Health Equity: A life course approach. Public Service Review: European Union 2011; 22:382-3.

Goodman A, Gisselmann M, Koupil I. Birth outcomes and early-life social characteristics predict unequal educational outcomes: consistency across Swedish cohorts born 1915-1929 and 1973-1980. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies 2010:1:317-338.

Manor O, Koupil I. Birth weight of infants and mortality in their parents and grandparents: the Uppsala Birth Cohort Study. Int J Epidemiol. 2010;39:1264-1276.

Goodman A, Koupil I. Social and biological determinants of reproductive success in Swedish males and females born 1915-1929.  Evolution And Human Behavior 2009;30:329-341.

Koupil I. The Uppsala studies on developmental origins of health and disease. J Internal Medicine 2007;261:426-436.