Two New Professors in Public Health Sciences to Be Inaugurated at Stockholm University Ceremony at the Stockholm City Hall

Sara Brolin Låftman and Sol Juárez are among the 44 professors who took up their positions at Stockholm University during the 2025/2026 academic year and who will be formally inaugurated at the inauguration and conferment ceremony at Stockholm City Hall on Friday 25 September.

Sara Brolin Låftman – Professor of Public Health Sciences with a focus on the social sciences

Sara Brolin Låftman has a background in sociology. She completed her PhD at Stockholm University in 2010 with a thesis on children's living conditions, focusing on health, family and school: Children's Living Conditions: Studies on Health, Family and School. Since then, Sara Brolin Låftman has continued to study the links between the living conditions and health of children and young people, with a particular focus on mental health – both in the short and long term.

One area of her research concerns how family circumstances are related to young people's health. She has also studied school-related conditions and how different aspects of the school environment are associated with students' wellbeing. Her research also examines how mental health during adolescence is linked to education, employment and the need for healthcare in young adulthood.

Source: Stockholm University's Communications Office:
2026 års nya professorer vid Stockholms universitet (Article in Swedish)

More information about Sara Brolin Låftman's research and teaching can be found on her profile page.
Sara Brolin Låftman´s profile page

Sol Juárez – Professor of Public Health Sciences with a focus on health inequalities

 Sol Juárez completed her PhD in 2011 at Complutense University of Madrid with the thesis What matters in birth weight. The Epidemiologic Paradox in the Autonomous Community of Madrid, based on research she conducted at the Spanish National Research Council. She conducts research in public health sciences with a focus on health inequalities, particularly among immigrant populations and their children in Europe.

Sol Juárez's research has shown how conditions in the host country affect the health of immigrants and contribute to widening health inequalities in society. She also examines the unintended health effects of social policy measures and has, for example, shown that parental leave policies can have a protective effect on parents' mental health.

Source: Stockholm University's Communications Office:
2026 års nya professorer vid Stockholms universitet (Article in Swedish)

In an article in the scientific journal The Lancet Regional Health – Europe this spring, Sol Juárez and her colleagues discussed the implications of the government's proposal for residence-based eligibility rules for social security benefits. According to the researchers, the proposed rules, which were approved by the Swedish Parliament in May, risk excluding people in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged positions and thereby deepening inequalities:
The Swedish welfare state under threat: new rules and new inequalities

Ahead of the professorial inauguration, Stockholm University's Communications Office published an interview with Sol Juárez. In the interview, she says that social inequalities can contribute to deteriorating health among immigrants. According to Sol Juárez, people who immigrate to Sweden often have better health than the Swedish-born population – but this advantage declines over time, and their children face an even higher risk of premature death.

Sol Juárez: Social inequalities cause immigrants' health to deteriorate

More information about Sol Juárez's research and teaching can be found on her profile page.
Sol Juárez´ profile page

Further reading about the inauguration and conferment ceremony

Read about all the new professors who will be formally inaugurated at Stockholm University's inauguration and conferment ceremony at Stockholm City Hall on 25 September:
2026 års nya professorer vid Stockholms universitet (Article in Swedish)

Håkan Soold