Sonja Anderson was born in 1954 and grew up in Chernivtsi, in today’s western Ukraine. Sonia began studying medicine at the age of 22 in Tver, outside Moscow. In 1980 she finished her studies and started working As a doctor and researcher at a medical institute in Moscow. In 1987 she came to Sweden and Karlskrona after meeting her Swedish husband Lennart the previous year.

Sonia worked initially in healthcare as an auxiliary nurse and then probationary assistant physician at Karlskrona Hospital at the same time as she learned Swedish and read her qualifications for a Swedish medical licence.

In 1991, Sonia became a registered doctor and got a job in the Women’s Clinic of Danderyd Hospital, where she stayed until 2000. She then moved to Huddinge Hospital and got the position of Chief Physician there. In 2002, she defended her thesis “The Role of HPV in Cervical Adenoma” and then did a six-month postdoc at the National Institutes of Health outside Washington, DC.

In 2010, Sonia became Associate Professor at the Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Solna and was also assigned the role of Director of Studies responsible for teaching medical students on the course in Obstetrics and Gynecology. In 2012, Sonya became a professor at KI and She was able to supervise nine Ph.D. students, eight of whom received their Ph.D. during her tenure in the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health.

Throughout her career, she’s had three main interests that she’s really passionate about: clinical work with patients, training new clinicians, and research into HPV and cervical cancer.

Sonya continued to work full time in both clinical work, teaching and research until her birthday on June 16th of this year. Alas, on the same day I fell ill with a serious illness, which, unfortunately, turned out to be incurable. However, on June 21, she left the hospital bed to attend her KI check-in, which was definitely a good relief to her soul and heart.

Sonia left earthly life on November 13, surrounded by her immediate family, in Huddinge Hospital. She left behind a huge void in her family, medical and research colleagues, former doctoral students, medical students, as well as patients.