The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine is the Nobel Committee

Nobel Committee

A Nobel Committee is the working body responsible for the most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are five Nobel Committees, one for each Nobel Prize....

 responsible for proposing laureates for the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine is appointed by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet

Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet is a body at Karolinska Institutet which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.The Nobel Assembly consists of fifty professors in medical subjects at Karolinska Institutet, appointed by the faculty of the Institute, and is a private...

, a body of 50 members at Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska Institutet

Karolinska institutet is a medical university in Solna within the Stockholm urban area, Sweden, and one of Europe's largest medical universities...

. It usually consists of Swedish professors of physiology or medical subjects who active at Karolinska Institutet, although the Assembly in principle could appoint anyone to the Committee. Other than the five ordinary members, ten associated members are appointed each year, for that year only.

The Committee is a working body that invites nominations and evaluates candidates nominated for the Nobel Prize. The final decision to award the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is taken by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet and based on a proposal from the Nobel Committee.

Controversies

Over the years, there have been many controversies concerned with the process by which nominations and awards of the Nobel Prize. To avoid any possible appearance of bias, the Nobel Committee

Nobel Committee

A Nobel Committee is the working body responsible for the most of the work involved in selecting Nobel Prize laureates. There are five Nobel Committees, one for each Nobel Prize....

 states that once 50 years has passed since the time of nomination, it will make the criteria for the selection of award recipients public. Currently (August 2, 2011) the Nobel Prize award site is more than 10 years late in providing these criteria. See Nobel Prize controversies

Nobel Prize controversies

Subsequent to his death in 1896, the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel established the Nobel Prizes. Annual prizes were to be awarded for service to humanity in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. Similarly, the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic...

.

Current members

The current members of the Committee are:

• Klas Kärre
  Klas Kärre
  Klas Kärre is a Swedish immunologist.Kärre received his doctorate in 1981 at Karolinska Institutet and is a professor of molecular immunology at Karolinska Institutet since 1993....
  
  , elected 2006 (chairman 2009–)
• Jan Andersson, elected 2008
• Carlos Ibáñez, elected 2008
• Urban Lendahl, elected 2007
• Rune Toftgård, elected 2010

Secretary

The secretary is in charge of the organization for the Nobel Committee and Assembly. He participates ex officio in their meetings and is usually their representative on the board of the Nobel Foundation.

• Göran Liljestrand
  Göran Liljestrand
  Göran Liljestrand , Swedish pharmacologist, known for the discovery of the Euler-Liljestrand mechanism.Liljestrand was born in Gothenburg but finished school at the Norra Real school in Stockholm, before matriculating at the University College of Stockholm in 1904...
  
  , 1918–1960
• Ulf von Euler
  Ulf von Euler
  Ulf Svante von Euler was a Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist. He won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters.-Life:...
  
  , 1960–1965
• Bengt Gustavsson, 1966–1978
• Jan Lindsten, 1979–1990
• Alf Lindberg, 1991–1992
• Nils Ringertz, 1992–1999
• Hans Jörnvall, 2000–2008
• Göran K. Hansson
  Göran K. Hansson
  Göran K. Hansson, born 1951, is a Swedish physician and medical researcher.Hansson was awarded his doctorate in 1980 at the University of Gothenburg. He has been a research scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, professor of cell biology at the University of Gothenburg, and visiting...
  
  , 2009–

Former members

• Karl Mörner, 1900–?
• Carl Sundberg, 1904–1916
• Johan Erik Johansson, 1904–? (chairman 1918—?)
• Frithiof Lennmalm, 1908–1910, 1917–1918 and 1920–?
• Jules Åkerman, 1911–?
• Edvard Welander, 1911–?
• Johan Albin Dalén, 1911–?
• Bror Gadelius, 1914–?
• Frans Westermark, 1914–?
• John Sjöqvist, 1918–1928
• Gunnar Hedrén, ?–1922
• Einar Hammarsten, 1929–?
• Alfred Pettersson, 1932–1934
• Folke Henschen, 1935–?
• Gunnar Holmgren, 1938–?
• Göran Liljestrand
  Göran Liljestrand
  Göran Liljestrand , Swedish pharmacologist, known for the discovery of the Euler-Liljestrand mechanism.Liljestrand was born in Gothenburg but finished school at the Norra Real school in Stockholm, before matriculating at the University College of Stockholm in 1904...
  
  , 1938–?
• Viktor Wigert, 1938–?
• Gösta Häggqvist, around 1940
• Hilding Bergstrand, ?–1952 (chairman 1947–1952)
• Ulf von Euler
  Ulf von Euler
  Ulf Svante von Euler was a Swedish physiologist and pharmacologist. He won a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970 for his work on neurotransmitters.-Life:...
  
  , 1953–1960 (chairman 1958–1960)
• Axel Westman, 1955–?
• Hugo Theorell
  Hugo Theorell
  Axel Hugo Theodor Theorell was a Swedish scientist and Nobel Prize laureate in medicine.He was born in Linköping as the son of Thure Theorell and his wife Armida Bill. Theorell went to Secondary School at Katedralskolan in Linköping and passed his examination there on 23 May 1921...
  
  , 1958–?
• Carl-Axel Hamberger, 1961–1966
• Erling Norrby, 1975–1980
• David Ottoson, 1974–1984 (chairman 1982–1984)
• Nils Ringertz, 1981–1987 (chairman 1985–1987)
• Sten Orrenius, 1983–2002
• Jan Wersäll, 1984–1990
• Bengt Samuelsson, 1984–? (chairman 1987–?)
• Tomas Hökfelt
  Tomas Hökfelt
  Tomas Hökfelt is a Swedish physician and former professor in histology at the Karolinska Institutet from 1979 until 2006, when he got his emeritate. He was linked to the Department of Neuroscience and is specialized in cell biology....
  
  , 1985–?
• Hans Wigzell, 1987–?
• Ralf F. Pettersson, 1995–2000 (chairman 1998–2000)
• Staffan Normark
  Staffan Normark
  Jan Staffan Normark, born 1945, is a Swedish physician, microbiologist and infectious disease researcher. He grew up in Umeå and was awarded his Ph.D. at Umeå University in 1971. At the end of the 1970s, he was one of the first Swedish scientists to utilise the new genetic engineering tools in...
  
  , 1996–2001
• Sten Lindahl, 1997–2002 (chairman 2001-2002)
• Bo Angelin, 1998–2003 (chairman 2003)
• Björn Vennström, 2001–2006
• Göran K. Hansson
  Göran K. Hansson
  Göran K. Hansson, born 1951, is a Swedish physician and medical researcher.Hansson was awarded his doctorate in 1980 at the University of Gothenburg. He has been a research scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, professor of cell biology at the University of Gothenburg, and visiting...
  
  , 2002–2007 (chairman 2004–2006)
• Erna Möller, 2003–2005
• Lars Terenius, 2003–2005
• Nils-Göran Larsson, 2006–2008
• Bertil Fredholm, 2004–2009 (chairman 2007–2008)