Rate My Professor Johan Zelano

Johan Zelano is Professor of Neurology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, and Chief Physician at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. He leads the Johan Zelano Group and Epilepsy Research Group in the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology. Appointed professor in 2023, he assumed the role of Director of the Wallenberg Centre for Molecular and Translational Medicine in September 2024. Zelano completed preclinical research education at Karolinska Institutet and defended his doctoral thesis in 2009 on synaptic adhesion molecules and complement factors in neuronal network remodeling following trauma. He undertook a research residency in neurology in Uppsala, including a postdoctoral project on genetic vulnerability to experimental epilepsy and clinical research, with periods at Queen Square in London. In 2015, he joined Sahlgrenska University Hospital, where he established his research group focused on large-scale registry studies for tailored epilepsy treatments and a regional biobank study for epilepsy biomarkers using epidemiological statistics, proteomics, genetics, electrophysiology, and imaging.

Zelano's research specializes in epilepsy acquired in adulthood, encompassing inflammation, brain network reorganization, biomarkers for early detection, diagnosis and prevention of seizures, optimal antiseizure medication choice, and prognostic impact. His group conducts clinical studies with blood and CSF biobanks, epidemiological research via national registers, neuroimaging, and big data analyses. Key projects include the PREDICT biobank study, fMRI investigations in acquired epilepsy, epidemiology of acquired epilepsy, geographic mapping of epilepsy, and digitization tools for women with epilepsy. Prominent publications are 'Association Between Antiseizure Drug Monotherapy and Mortality for Patients With Poststroke Epilepsy' (JAMA Neurology, 2022), 'Post-traumatic epilepsy in adults: a nationwide register-based study' (Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 2021), 'Neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and tau in a regional epilepsy cohort: High plasma levels are rare but related to seizures' (Epilepsia, 2023), 'Antiseizure medication selection and retention for adult-onset focal epilepsy in a Swedish health service region: a population-based cohort study' (Epilepsia, 2023), and 'Risk of stroke after new-onset seizures' (Seizure, 2020). A member of the Young Academy of Sweden from 2020 to 2025, Zelano fosters collaborations across healthcare, industry, and academia to advance personalized epilepsy care.