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Swedish specialists and centres: who has a verified CLL role in October 2026

Sources. The roles below come from two kinds of source:

  • Tier 1 documents: the VP8.2 author list (adopted 27 January 2026), the national KLL registry reports of September 2024 and October/December 2025, and EU trial records (CTIS).
  • Tier 2 sources: university profiles, author affiliations on 2025–2026 PubMed papers, and ERIC pages.

Limits. PubMed counts are approximate and measure research output, not bedside skill. Current clinic sessions are unverified for most people listed.

14.1 CLL clinicians in Sweden

Person Current position (latest source) CLL-specific role Recent work Clinical activity Route
Daniel Roth Specialist physician (specialistläkare), VO Hematologi, onkologi och strålningsfysik (VO HOS), SUS Lund (VP8.2, Jan 2026) Region Syd's representative in the national KLL guideline group, and the southern member of the KLL registry steering group (2024 and 2025 reports) 2 PubMed CLL papers, both multicentre pneumococcal-vaccine studies (2018, 2025). No trial PI listing. Beware: the Lund University profile under the same name belongs to a radiation physicist [I] A clinical post; the title suggests a relatively early-career specialist Hematologimottagning Lund (remiss or egen vårdbegäran), 046-17 71 41
Oscar Lindblad Associate consultant (biträdande överläkare), VO HOS, SUS Lund (VP8.2) Co-author (adjunct) of VP8.2; Lund site contact for the CLL18/MOIRAI trial (CTIS decision, 2 Jul 2026) Co-author of CLL17 (NEJM 2026); earlier AML research [I] A consultant post; CLL17 authorship implies he cared for trial patients As for Roth
Mats Jerkeman Professor and senior consultant in medical oncology, Lund University/SUS; listed as "Head of Department" (LU research portal) and "Head of office" (LUCAT); which title is current is not verified Lund's leading lymphoma specialist, relevant when the diagnosis comes from lymph nodes. No formal CLL role (not in the KLL guideline group or registry steering group; no CLL trial-PI roles); 7 PubMed CLL records, 1 since 2023 (co-author of the ESMO 2024 CLL interim update) Principal investigator of Nordic Lymphoma Group trials in mantle cell lymphoma and DLBCL Lymphoma oncology Onkologimottagning 1 Lund, 046-17 75 20
Jeanette Lundin Överläkare, Hematologiskt Centrum, Karolinska Solna; docent at Karolinska Institutet (KI), in Österborg's research group Stockholm-Gotland representative in the KLL guideline group About 33 PubMed CLL papers; sponsor-investigator of the IbruOnOff trial Clinical Remiss to Hematologiskt Centrum, Karolinska Solna
Anders Österborg Affiliated researcher at KI; leads the research group on precision medicine in lymphoid cancers including CLL; 2025–26 papers list Karolinska haematology Former guideline-group member; the most prolific Swedish CLL trial author (about 135 PubMed CLL records, 23 since 2023) BRUIN CLL-322 (Lancet 2026), SEQUOIA 5-year results, ALPINE final analysis, zanubrutinib in TP53-aberrant disease Current clinic sessions not verified Via the Karolinska CLL team
Marzia Palma Docent, KI; 2026 affiliation Lymphoma Unit, Karolinska Research on how BTK inhibitors affect the immune system; about 29 PubMed CLL records BJH 2026 [I] Clinical work likely, from the hospital affiliation —
Lotta Hansson Registry holder (registerhållare) of the national KLL registry; ME Hematologi, Karolinska Solna; docent, KI Leads the registry and sits on its steering group; not in the guideline group About 43 PubMed CLL records, including COVID-19 outcomes in CLL (2025) Clinic sessions not verified —
Richard Rosenquist Brandell Professor of Clinical Genetics, KI; senior physician in clinical genetics; director of Genomic Medicine Sweden (per his profile) ERIC Extended Board; contact person for ERIC's TP53/IG reference centre for Sweden and the Nordic countries (Clinical Genetics, Uppsala) About 208 PubMed CLL records; 2025–26 work on ATM, treatment resistance and clonal evolution Clinical genetics; not a treating haematologist Via the treating haematologist
Mattias Mattsson Överläkare, Hematologen, Akademiska sjukhuset, Uppsala Uppsala-Örebro representative in the guideline group; former registry holder and current steering-group member; author of Blodcancerförbundet's 2026 KLL brochure About 31 PubMed CLL records; co-author of CLL17; the VISION/HO141 trial Clinical Remiss to Akademiska haematology (018-611 43 30)
Panagiotis Baliakas Haematologist and clinical geneticist, Klinisk genetik, Akademiska Co-author (adjunct) of VP8.2; co-author of the ERIC 2024 TP53 recommendations About 52 PubMed CLL records; complex-karyotype work (Blood 2019) Whether he runs an outpatient CLL clinic is not verified Via the treating doctor

Sources: VP8.2 ch. 25; KLL registry report 2025; CTIS CLL18; PubMed 41358601 (CLL17); LU portal: Mats Jerkeman; LUCAT: Mats Jerkeman; ESMO 2024, PubMed 38969011; NLG newsletter, May 2026; KI profiles of Lundin, Österborg, Palma, Hansson and Rosenquist; ERIC structure; UU: Baliakas; Blodcancerförbundet KLL brochure.

14.2 Other key people

The national guideline group (VP8.2, 2026) [E]:

  • Magdalena Kättström (Örebro) chairs the national KLL guideline group. She is first author of the 2025 pneumococcal revaccination study.
  • The other regional representatives, besides Roth, Lundin and Mattsson in the table above, are:
  • Angeliki Vourtsi (Umeå);
  • Anna Bergendahl Sandstedt (Linköping; CLL17 co-author);
  • Sara Lundgren (Halland, Varberg).
  • Per-Ola Andersson (Sahlgrenska) is the western member of the registry steering group.
  • Magnus Hultdin (Umeå) is the pathology representative.
  • Kourosh Lotfi (Linköping) is a former member and CLL13 co-author.

In Lund [E]:

  • Haematopathology: Mats Ehinger and Anna Porwit.
  • Gunnar Juliusson: an AML-focused professor who co-authored CLL13.
  • Karin Karlsson: former guideline member and ELEVATE-TN author, with no recent CLL output.
  • Kristina Drott: lymphoma oncology.

Laboratory researchers without a clinical role: Larry Mansouri, Emma Young and Viktor Ljungström matter only indirectly, through the Karolinska and Uppsala laboratories (VP8.2 ch. 25; Kättström 2025; Lotfi/Juliusson in CLL13).

14.3 If this were our family member: the 3–5 people or teams we would want involved

"Best" cannot be objectively proven:

  • There is no public outcome data for individual doctors.
  • The registry reports only by region, and it found no significant regional differences in relative survival after treatment start (KLL registry report 2025, p. 30).
  • Our proxies are national guideline and registry roles, trial authorship and recent CLL output. They measure engagement with the disease, not bedside quality.

With that caveat, [I] we would want:

  1. SUS haematology (VO HOS) in Lund or Malmö as the treating base, with CLL-specific input from Daniel Roth or Oscar Lindblad. They are the officially designated regional CLL clinicians. Lindblad is the Lund contact for the only first-line trial open in Skåne. Lund also offers in-house genetics, a transplant centre and, for patients in Skåne, continuity close to home.
  2. If the diagnosis rests on excised nodes, a review of them by Lund haematopathology (the Ehinger/Porwit division), because look-alikes or transformation must be excluded.
  3. One national CLL team for the formal second opinion (ny medicinsk bedömning): Karolinska or Uppsala.
  4. Karolinska: Lundin; the registry holder Hansson; the Palma/Österborg group.
  5. Uppsala: Mattsson.
  6. These hold the deepest Swedish trial and guideline footprint. Uppsala also coordinates CLL18 nationally. Choose on logistics.
  7. Expert genetic interpretation, if results are borderline or unusual (IGHV 97–97.99%, low-VAF TP53, conflicting FISH and sequencing): Uppsala clinical genetics (Baliakas), the ERIC Nordic reference centre (Rosenquist's network). This is reached through the treating haematologist, not by self-referral.
  8. Copenhagen (Carsten Utoft Niemann), and only for unusual biology, Richter transformation, double-refractory disease or trial access.

Mats Jerkeman, Lund's leading lymphoma specialist, is relevant when the diagnosis comes from lymph nodes: he is the natural contact for lymphoma-type questions, such as ambiguous histology or suspected transformation, while routine CLL strategy sits with the CLL clinicians above.

14.4 International centres

The full international shortlist — with remote second opinions open to Swedish residents and an honest view of when travelling helps — is on World-class options abroad.

Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, is the nearest. Carsten Utoft Niemann [E]:

  • is Clinical Professor and Chief Physician of Haematology;
  • chairs the Nordic CLL Study Group;
  • sits on the ERIC Extended Board;
  • co-authored the EHA 2026 guidelines;
  • has about 140 PubMed CLL records, 67 of them since 2023;
  • was principal investigator of PreVent-ACaLL.

No international-patient or second-opinion service for foreign patients was found (route and limits in section 16) (DTU profile; ERIC structure).

Other centres with verified 2026 leadership:

  • University Hospital Cologne / German CLL Study Group (Hallek, Eichhorst, Al-Sawaf): runs CLL13, CLL17 and CLL18; Eichhorst is first author of the EHA 2026 guidelines.
  • San Raffaele, Milan (Ghia, ERIC president since 2015).
  • Amsterdam UMC / HOVON (Kater, chair of EHA's scientific working group on CLL according to ERIC's site).
  • MD Anderson (Wierda, Jain).
  • Mayo Clinic (Parikh; Roeker, who has moved there from MSKCC).
  • Verified alternates: Davids (Dana-Farber), Woyach (Ohio State), Eyre (Oxford), Munir (Leeds).

Sources: EHA 2026, PubMed 42293463; ERIC structure; GLOW 67-month, PubMed 42827117.

[I] None of these adds value for a routine new diagnosis. Swedish CLL leads already collaborate with Cologne, Copenhagen and Amsterdam through CLL13, CLL17, CLL18 and the Nordic CLL group. A doctor-to-doctor consultation is usually easier, and cheaper, than sending the patient abroad.