He has served as an adviser to the Obama administration, worked with Joe Biden on the Cancer Moonshot initiative, and helped develop around 50 medicines and vaccines, including Pfizer's Covid vaccine. Mikael Dolsten has now been awarded Lund University's Gold Medal - and is helping the next generation of researchers to test their ideas.
In the spring of 2020, Mikael Dolsten was head of research and development at Pfizer and wanted the company to invest heavily in a vaccine against the new coronavirus. But his vaccine researchers were sceptical.
"They had been through a situation where it had previously been thought that a pandemic was on the way; they had worked hard, and then nothing had come of it," says Mikael Dolsten.
He himself had just attended a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, alongside other leaders of research companies, and was convinced that the company needed to take action against the newly discovered virus. Pfizer's CEO gave his support.
I said, 'perhaps 70 per cent' and felt I was sticking my neck out a bit
"The day before, we'd been in contact with the German company BioNTech, which was working on a flu vaccine, and had learnt that they were interested in collaborating with us. It felt historic to be able to say that at the White House," recalls Mikael Dolsten.
Months later, he was sitting with the same CEO and other colleagues in Connecticut, where Pfizer has a research facility. They were to receive the results of the clinical trial of the Covid-19 vaccine - developed jointly by Pfizer and BioNTech - via video link. What effect did Dolsten think the vaccine would have, the CEO wondered?
"I said, 'perhaps 70 per cent' and felt I was sticking my neck out a bit. Cautious optimism has always been my motto," says Mikael Dolsten.
The result: over 90 per cent protection against Covid-19, which was now spreading like wildfire across the globe.
"We jumped out of our seats with joy," says Mikael Dolsten.
Looking back, he compares the hunt for the vaccine to a Henning Mankell crime novel - except with an invisible villain and without knowing what lies around the next corner.
From Lund to your medicine cabinet
If you open your medicine cabinet, there is a good chance you will find something that Mikael Dolsten has helped to develop in one way or another. He has been involved in the development of around 50 medicines and vaccines over the course of his career.
He has now been awarded Lund University's Gold Medal in recognition of his achievements. It all comes full circle: it was in Lund that he trained as a physician and researcher, met his wife Catarina and had his three children. After completing his doctoral degree at Lund University, he became an associate professor and eventually an adjunct professor of immunology.
"Lund holds a special place in my heart. The University gave me the foundations of my career as a physician and researcher, and the Gold Medal symbolises my reconnection with the Lund family," says Mikael Dolsten.
Lund holds a special place in my heart
While thousands of Pfizer employees were working on the vaccine, Mikael Dolsten was running another project far removed from those vast resources. He calls it his garage project, inspired by how Apple once got its start in the garage of Steve Jobs' parents. His aim was to develop an antiviral drug to treat Covid-19.
The result was Paxlovid, which can reduce the risk of severe Covid-19 in patients at increased risk. It became a big seller in the US. According to Mikael Dolsten, this "garage project" also says something about how people work at Pfizer.
"It taught me that a small team can sometimes change the world. To begin with, there were 15 of us working on Paxlovid. On the vaccine project, there were thousands of us," says Mikael Dolsten.
Aiming to develop the "garage entrepreneurs" of the future
After his years at the top of the pharmaceutical industry, Mikael Dolsten could have taken a step back. Instead, however, he embarked on a new phase as a mentor, adviser and board member in companies developing the medicines of the future. Over the past 18 months, he has co-founded six innovative biotechnology companies.
"I want to develop new 'garage leaders' and these days I'd rather be there to make sure the light's on in the garage," says Mikael Dolsten.
He has little time for the American rock star culture he has encountered during his career. Leaders can become bigger than the organisations they lead.
"I think you can make a lot of wrong decisions when the music is loud," says Mikael Dolsten.
Personally, he prefers the image of a Swedish team captain - someone who plays alongside the team, but who can also bring the players together and ask them what they need to do differently.
Antibodies in a few hours
One of the companies Mikael Dolsten has been involved with was founded by two young entrepreneurs with a bold idea: to use artificial intelligence to design antibodies, which are used, among other things, in medicines for cancer and inflammatory diseases.
He was initially hesitant when he was asked to get involved with the company.
However, a small team of mathematicians and computer scientists developed an AI model capable of generating proposals for new antibodies in just a few hours. After six months, the company was able to produce antibodies which, in laboratory tests, demonstrated comparable quality in certain respects to that of established antibody-based medicines.
"This development could significantly speed up the development of new medicines. Many diseases that cannot be cured today may come to be treated in entirely new ways, perhaps even within my own lifetime," says Mikael Dolsten.
There, they invest in people with dreams rather than in finished product designs
These days, he describes himself as an AI enthusiast. He has also been influenced by the culture surrounding the technology.
"I've learnt that there's a different way of looking at the world in Silicon Valley. There, they invest in people with dreams rather than in finished product designs."
Mikael Dolsten sees great opportunities and wants to make a contribution - because he believes that academia could allow itself to be more inspired by this entrepreneurial spirit. He wants to combine the rigour, collaboration and sense of responsibility found in Swedish research with the American willingness to think big and dare to invest.
"We built a bridge between Malmö and Copenhagen. Now we should build virtual bridges to San Francisco, Boston and New York," says Mikael Dolsten.
The downside of curiosity
Mikael Dolsten has continued to explore areas where the boundaries of what is possible are being pushed. He is involved in new technologies for brain disorders and the biology of ageing, and has even begun to take an interest in pharmaceutical research in space. The list of things that interest him continues to grow.
What drives you?
"I've found it hard to feel truly content in life. There's a wonderful sense of curiosity, but also an impatience that isn't always quite so positive," says Mikael Dolsten.
He recognises this from his years as a physician in Lund, where colleagues found it difficult to leave their patients and work behind, even when their commitment came at the expense of time with their family and friends.
"You have to ask yourself how you can find those moments of peace, when you feel content and time stands still," says Mikael Dolsten.
He believes that the next ten years could bring major advances in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders. With better methods for detecting and preventing diseases, he also sees opportunities for people to live healthier lives for longer.
"But the question is whether a significantly longer life can make the world wiser? After all, we humans tend to repeat the same mistakes," says Mikael Dolsten.
Mikael Dolsten is looking ahead. The day after our conversation, he is due to attend a conference on the future with Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group business empire.
And on 29 January 2027, he will receive Lund University's Gold Medal at the University's annual academic ceremony.
