Per will contribute his extensive expertise and passion for manual medicine and pedagogy in several ways. He will be one of the people who, together with the director of studies and teachers in naprapathy, will lead the elective course, the “pedagogical track.”
In addition, during the spring semester of 2018, he will hold a seminar on his research in medical education, as well as a workshop on neuroanatomy using learning methods derived from dance.
My name is Per Palmgren and I am 44 years old. I divide my life between France, where my family lives, and Sweden, where I hold a university position at Karolinska Institutet (KI).
I am a dancer by background, both classically trained and a competitive dancer, and I remain very involved in the dance world today as both a coach and a judge. During my time as a dancer, I had quite a few back and hip problems and came into contact with naprapaths, chiropractors, and physical therapists early on. I became fascinated by manual medicine and these professions, and I already had a burning interest in the body and movement from my dance background. I applied to and was accepted into both naprapathic and chiropractic programs, and by chance, I ended up training as a chiropractor.
Immediately after graduating in 2004 and becoming licensed in 2006, I began teaching anatomy and diagnostics at the Scandinavian College of Chiropractic. I found teaching incredibly fun, stimulating, and challenging, which sparked a deep interest in student learning and pedagogical issues. This led me to earn a Master’s degree in Medical Education at the University of Dundee in Scotland (2008–2010). In 2010, I came into contact with KI and Klara Bolander Laksov, who became my supervisor when I was admitted as a doctoral student in 2011. In 2016, I defended my doctoral thesis in medical education, titled “It takes two to tango – an inquiry into healthcare professional education environments.”
Today, I work as a university lecturer at the Unit for Evaluation (EVAL) at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME) at KI. In my work, I lead several pedagogical projects related to quality assurance and evaluation, conduct research on psychosocial education and learning environments, and teach courses primarily aimed at doctoral students and faculty.
