Hemmingsson, Tomas

Biography

Tomas Hemmingsson is a professor of sociological alcohol and drug research. He disputed 1999 in public health science at Karolinska institutet with the dissertation Explanations of differences in alcoholism between social classes and occupations among Swedish men: a register based follow-up study . He has worked as a researcher at Karolinska institutet and for a number of years also at the State Labor Institute. His research, with epidemiological methodology, has focused on seeking explanations for differences in health between socially defined groups such as socio-economic groups and professions. Explanations of social differences in ill health can be sought in a number of life areas, such as working life, other living conditions and living habits, and may originate from unfavorable conditions in children and youth. An important research area has been to estimate the impact of social and psychosocial conditions in children and adolescents, before entering into working life, on later health and social careers, and to what extent such factors, in themselves and in combination with other factors (living habits and psychosocial stress), helps to create health differences between socioeconomic groups, education groups and professions. Important such early factors are drug habits, social environment, mental health and cognitive ability. Hemmingsson is also a lecturer and guest professor at Karolinska institutet and is active in the Department of Occupational Medicine at the Institute for Environmental Medicine.

Research Interest

Drug habits, social environment, mental health and cognitive ability