Thorkild Tylleskär
Position
Professor, And paediatrician, md, phd, ma, centre for international health
Affiliation
Research groups
Short info
Thorkild Tylleskär (MD, PhD, MA) is a paediatrician and professor in International Health since 2001, trained at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden. His focus is on child health, birth care, neonatal care, HIV, nutrition and clinical trials in low-income countries.
Research
- H-index 41 Publons/Web of Science
- ResearcherID S-5529-2017
- ORCID ID 0000-0003-4801-4324
- Thorkild Tylleskär (MD, PhD, MA) is a paediatrician and professor in International Health since 2001, trained at Uppsala University and Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden. His focus is on child health, birth care, neonatal care, HIV, nutrition, health informatics and clinical trials in a global perspective.
- He leads the Norwegian Forum for Global Health Research
- He leads the Norwegian Research School in Global Health for Sustainable Futures
- He has a French Master in African Linguistics from Sorbonne University after field work in present-day Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire).
- His medical PhD thesis in 1994 under the supervision of late Prof Hans Rosling describes the toxico-nutritional causation of ‘konzo’, a paralytic disorder permanently crippling women and children in DR Congo and other pockets in Africa.
- 12 of his former PhD-candidates have been promoted to professors at universities in Africa, USA and Norway.
Key publications:
- Pejovic NJ et al. A Randomized Trial of Laryngeal Mask Airway in Neonatal Resuscitation. N Engl J Med 2020;383:2138-2147
- Van de Perre P et al. Eliminating postnatal HIV transmission in high incidence areas: need for complementary biomedical interventions. Lancet 2021;397:1316-1324
- Nagot N et al. Extended pre-exposure prophylaxis with lopinavir-ritonavir versus lamivudine to prevent HIV-1 transmission through breastfeeding up to 50 weeks in infants in Africa (ANRS 12174): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2016;387:566-573.
- Tylleskär T et al. Exclusive breastfeeding promotion by peer counsellors in sub-Saharan Africa (PROMISE-EBF): a cluster-randomised trial. Lancet 2011;378:420-7
- Tylleskär T et al. Cassava cyanogens and konzo, an upper motoneuron disease found in Africa. Lancet 1992;339:208-11.
Supervision: He has supervised over 40 PhD candidates, most of them from Africa. The latest graduated PhD candidates are:
- Beatrice Odongkara, 2023 "Small newborns in post-conflict Northern Uganda: Burden and interventions for improved outcomes"
- Hans-Jörg Lang, 2021 "Treatment of the critically ill child in low-resource settings: Essential paediatric emergency and critical care"
- Agnes K Napyo, 2021 "Universal antiretroviral therapy for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Northern Uganda"
- Susanna Myrnerts Höök, 2021 "Supporting neonatal resuscitation in low-resource settings - Innovations and new strategies"
- Appolinaire Tiam, 2020 "Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV-1 in Lesotho"
- Julia Regina Brandenberger, Germany 2020: "Asylum-seeking children at a Swiss tertiary hospital"
- Hamidah Hussain, Pakistan 2020: "Tuberculosis care: Cost-effectiveness of a public-private partnership model in Pakistan"
- Andrea Melberg, Norway 2020: "Global policies and the provision of birth care in Burkina Faso"
- Anneli Eriksson, Sweden 2020: ”Estimating needs in disasters”
- Anselme S. Sanou, Burkina Faso 2020: "Child development in rural Burkina Faso: Association between maternal alcohol consumption, stunting, schooling, and neuropsychological outcomes"
- Nicolas Pejovic, Sweden 2020: "No cry at birth"
- Alice Mugisha, Uganda 2020: "Designing usable mobile forms for collection of health data in Uganda"
- David Mukunya, Uganda 2020: "Newborn Care Practices in Northern Uganda" Article in English
- Justin Bruno Tongun, South Sudan 2020: "Breastfeeding practices and health facility births in South Sudan" Article in English
Ongoing projects:
- Emollient therapy for very low birthweight infants (<1500 g) in Uganda: effects on survival, infection, growth and development
- PROMISE ZERO
- REBOA PPH trial – Randomized Clinical Trial Assessing the usefulness of aorta ballon in postpartum haemorrhage
- iCARTA - Institutionalisation of Advanced Research Training in Africa with CARTA, the Consortium of Advanced Research Training in Africa
- PedMAb – seeking innovative ways to protect children from getting HIV from their mothers
- GrowNut II Developing a cadre of African nutrition scholars and leaders to address nutrition disorders and influence nutrition policy
- Sambulelo
- Norwegian Research School in Global Health for Sustainable Futures
- BURST-Excel - The Bergen-Uganda Collaboration on Research Schools and Training for Excellence in Global Health
Main collaborating countries:
- Uganda
- Kenya
- Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo Kinshasa)
- Zambia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Burkina Faso
- France
- UK
Main areas are:
- Global Health
- Child Health
- Birth Care
- Neonatal care
- HIV
- Global Nutrition
- Clinical trials
- Information and Communication Technology in Health Sciences
Awards:
Additional responsibilities:
- Chair of the Norwegian Forum for Global Health Research, 2023-
- Chair of the Scientific Committee for the 12th European Congress on Tropical Medicine and International Health (ECTMIH), virtual from Bergen 28 Sept - 1 Oct 2021
- The University of Bergen coordinator for the collaboration with Makerere University
- Board member of the Faculty of Medicine 2021-2025
Teaching
I am teaching medical students, master students and PhD candidates in international health. I am teaching on a number of courses and I am course leader of two/three courses:
SDG303 "Global health - challenges and responses" and
INTH321A "Experimental epidemiology"
My main areas are:
- Global Health
- Child Health
- Global Nutrition
- HIV
- Clinical trials and experimental epidemiology
Publications
Original Lancet /NEJM publications:
Projects
Ongoing projects:
- Emollient therapy for very low birthweight infants (<1500 g) in Uganda: effects on survival, infection, growth and development
- PROMISE ZERO
- REBOA PPH trial – Randomized Clinical Trial Assessing the usefulness of aorta ballon in postpartum haemorrhage
- iCARTA - Institutionalisation of Advanced Research Training in Africa with CARTA, the Consortium of Advanced Research Training in Africa
- PedMAb – seeking innovative ways to protect children from getting HIV from their mothers
- GrowNut II Developing a cadre of African nutrition scholars and leaders to address nutrition disorders and influence nutrition policy
- Sambulelo
- Norwegian Research School in Global Health for Sustainable Futures
- BURST-Excel - The Bergen-Uganda Collaboration on Research Schools and Training for Excellence in Global Health
Past projects:
- BabyGel - A cluster randomised trial to evaluate the effectiveness of household alcohol-based handrub for the prevention of sepsis, diarrhoea and pneumonia in Ugandan infants
- SURVIVAL PLUSS – Increasing capacity for mama-baby survival in post-conflict Uganda and South Sudan
- HI TRAIN – Health Informatics Training and Research in East Africa for Improved Health Care
- GROW NUT – Growing Partnership for Higher Education and Research in Nutritional Epidemiology in DR Congo
- PROMISE EPI – Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV-1: programme evaluation and innovative rescue intervention integrated in the Expanded Programme of Immunization
- NeoSupra Trial – Randomized Phase III Clinical Trial Assessing a Supraglottic Device Versus Face-mask Ventilation in Neonatal Resuscitation in Africa