LINKÖPING — David Engblom, a Professor of Neurobiology at Linköping University, was awarded the 2026 Onkel Adam Prize for outstanding research at the Faculty of Medicine on June 24, 2026. The prize recognizes Engblom's work on the brain's role in how humans experience illness in various medical conditions.

The Onkel Adam Prize, valued at SEK 400,000, is granted to the recipient as a private individual. The award jury's citation stated that Engblom "represents a research achievement of exceptional scientific excellence which has resulted in a series of prestigious awards and grants."

Lena Jonasson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Linköping University, led the award committee's nomination process. "We're delighted that David Engblom is awarded the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences' largest and most prestigious research award," Jonasson said. "In addition to outstandingly fine research, David also makes significant contributions in education and collegial contexts."

The Onkel Adam Prize was established in 2020 through a donation by Bengt Normann to the Jubilee Foundation at Linköping University.

Engblom has received the "Kandidat Kork" teacher award from medical students on five occasions. Reflecting on his career, Engblom said, "Research is in many respects teamwork. At the beginning of your career as a researcher, you're actively involved in the experiments and doing practical research work, but my role now is more like coaching a football team. I'm no longer the one who scores the goals; the research team does."

"On a day like this, I'm very happy that I became a scientist," Engblom said. "I think you should keep jumping at opportunities throughout life. If you have very rigid ideas from the beginning about what to do, you might miss a lot of opportunities that pop up along the way."