Patrick Sourander Memorial Lecture

Patrick Sourander was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1917. He graduated from the Medical Faculty of Helsinki University in 1946 and started his clinical training in paediatrics. Influenced by various neuroscientists and pathologists he moved to Sweden. In the beginning of the 1950´s he became a PhD student at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden and his experimental work dealt with rabies virus infection and its effects on the nervous system. After some years of training in pathology and clinical neuropathology at the Department of Pathology Uppsala University he returned to Gothenburg and held a position as Associtae Professor of Pathology. In 1978 he was appointed full Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Gothenburg. Patrick Sourander retired in 1983.

Earlier than many contemporary neuropathologists, Patrick Sourander realized the potential of a close cooperation between basic neurobiology and clinical investigations. His scientific interests included many different topics such as metabolic disturbances, in particular leucodystrophies, lipidosis and the consequences of malnutrition, infections, dementia and peripheral nerve pathology. In Gothenburg many young physicians joined his group making their training in clinical and experimental neuropathology.

Patrick Sourander had broad international contacts and was very well-known among neuropathologists worldwide. As a founding member of the International Society of Neuropathology (ISN), Patrick Sourander held the office of ISN Vice-President during 1974 – 1978 and was the President of the X^th International Congress of Neuropathology held in Stockholm, in 1986.

Patrick Sourander had a keen interest in the history of medicine and he wrote several essays on famous Swedish scientists such as Carolus Linnaeus and Emanuel Swedenborg.

Patrick Sourander died in 1993. To honor his memory the “Patrick Sourander Memorial Lecture” has been given at meetings arranged by the Scandinavian Neuropathological Society.