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Department of Brilliant Ideas

A blog by Stefan Johansson in Community

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About this blog

the Department of Brilliant Ideas - that is where I work 
💭

Entries in this blog

99nicu

🎉 20 Years of 99nicu 🎉

On May 11, 2026, 99nicu turns 20. It’s a moment that feels deeply meaningful to me. When I shared the very first words on 99nicu back in 2006, and celibrated our first birth day in 2007, the idea was simple: to create a web-based space where NICU staff could “share and care.” This was before social media as we know it today, when like-minded people gathered on bulletin boards in the era of what we then called Web 2.0 (Wikipedia), guided by the belief that “information wants to be free.” (Those r
Social media

the NICUVERSE - the solution to collapsed neonatal social media feeds?

I spent a few wonderful days at jENS 2025. While I had great days at this large neonatology conference, I also checked in into the various social media channels, to find out about missed out things. And realised… the neonatal social media is pretty dead ☹️ In the beginning, we had a pretty basic Internet. It offered the opportunity to search for information unilaterally and connecting people over electronic mail. Later came the embryo of the social web, taking the communication beyond emails. Th
Work Life Balance

Last night shift

I’ve done it, the last night shift. What in many ways defines us, devoted to neonatal care, is no longer part of my working life. One of my gifts in life has been endurance and grit, allowing a good amount of workload. It has enabled my long journey from the countryside where I grew up to an intellectually affluent position with many hats: one clinical, one academic, one for greater-good projects (like 99nicu!), and one as a startup entrepreneur. But with time and age usually come limitations, e
99nicu - tech

The software platform for 99nicu.org takes a new leap

The 99nicu.org web site is built on the Invision Power Board software.  In the next version (v5) there will be a major overhaul of the user interface, allowing for an even better way of presenting and browsing content here. You can get a sneak preview in the video below (a bit techy, but still )  
Social media

Values made me X-it

I don’t need to expand on how Internet and social media have shifted the paradigm for professional discussion. You know this! Painful it is, but I wanted to share that I have decided to close my Twitter/X account. I will miss you tweeps. But... see you soon elsewhere! I started to build a network on Twitter in 2009, exploring this new channel for communication about research and medicine. Twitter was different then, compared to what X has become. In the earlier years, Twitter impersona
startup

Why health care professionals are fitted for the #startup universe

I like projects outside my clinical and academic work. 99nicu was the first big project that came out in public from my "Department of Brilliant Ideas". Since several years, I have devoted a lot of work for a project that eventually led to the startup Neobiomics, since 2019 under the wings of the Karolinska Innovations AB. Neobiomics provides ProPrems®, a high-quality multi-strain food supplement. Entering the startup universe has been like embarking a rollercoaster journey. In many wa

the 99nicu App - to be expected during 2020

The professional communication during the Covid-19 pandemic really shows the potential to share expertise and experience through web-based channels. Journals, societies, regular news media, social media platforms etc-etc play an important role for us to keep updated, and many web sites have also opened up their content free of charge. We will learn many things from facing and tackling this pandemic, but one major change will certainly be our communication channels. Many are discovering

Innovation - more than the new buzz word in health care?

The new buzz word in health care is “innovation”. Which is a good thing!  I have been in the ecosystem of innovation since 2016 with the startup company Neobiomics and the ProPrems® product, in the Innovation Incubator at Karolinska Institutet (KI DRIVE). There we meet with other startup companies, and we share several of the challenges of operating in the interface between innovation and “traditional” health care. Here's a few thoughts. Innovation can only benefit patients throug

Review on ethics around decision-making - compulsary reading for all NICU staff

If you are to read one paper on neonatal ethics this year, I'd argue that this is the one. Late last year, John Lantos, pediatrician and a leading medical ethicist, published a review in NEJM on the ethics around decision-making in the NICU. The paper is not open-access... but you can surely get it from within your hospital intranet or your university/hospital library. We have a fantastic toolbox in the NICU. We can provide live-saving treatments and support. Most newborns in the NICU

The Future of Neonatal Care will happen in Copenhagen

Register for the 99nicu Meetup! In the virtual 99nicu Headquarters, we are now very busy with all preparations for our upcoming Meetup, AKA the Future of Neonatal Care conference. This third conference will take place in Copenhagen, 7-10 April, and we are already thrilled about what to come. Our vision for the 99nicu Community is to offer an Internet platform where neonatal staff from all over the world can share questions, experiences and expertise. Therefore, we are grateful to see,

Survive and thrive - the WHO take on transforming care for every small and sick newborn

I would just like to share a new document by the World Health Organization, WHO. In a report that come out the other week, WHO present its key findings from an upcoming publication "Survive and thrive: transforming care for every small and sick newborn." While we commonly think about neonatal care and preterm infants in high-resource settings, there is really a lot of public health work to be done when it comes to improve neonatal care in low-/mid-resource contexts. In fact, the world

Great thesis on telomeres, immune development and oxidative stress in preterm infants. And a funny card :)

My colleague Ewa Henckel defended her thesis at Karolinska Institutet on "Cellular consequences of preterm birth : telomere biology, immune development and oxidative stress" last week, including four projects on  telomere length, inflammation and lung function viral respiratory infections and cellular aging  immune system development and environmental exposures hyperoxia-induced lung damage and the capacity to counter-act surfactant inactivation with a novel antioxidan

99nicu – a Forum with a Future

Since the October issue of Neonatology Today, I and @Francesco Cardona will alternate in writing a column where we will share bits and pieces from the 99nicu community, mixed with more general reflections. This column is the start of a extended partnership between 99nicu and Neonatology Today.  In case you don't know, Neonatology Today is a peer-reviewed monthly newsletter that is available free of charge, and has a mission to provide timely news and information the care of newborns and the

First 13 confirmed speakers at our Meetup 2019!

We now have 13 confirmed speakers for the Copenhagen Meetup 7-10 April next year! Generally, we'll stick to the successful format we have had at the previous meetings: 45 min slots split into a 30 min lecture and a 15 min discussion. We'll continue to use the sli.do smartphone app to facilitate the discussion and allow every delegate to share questions and comments. In addition to the lecture program 7-9 April, we are also planning workhops and mini-symposia on the 10th of April. We'll

First five confirmed speaker at the 2019 Meetup!

I just want to share some brief news about our next Meetup, 7-10 April 2019 at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen/Denmark. We (i.e myself, @Francesco Cardona @RasmusR @Christian Heiring , Gorm Greisen and Morten Breindahl) are currently working on the program lectures and workshops. I just want to share the first five confirmed speakers and their topics: Morten Breindahl: Neonatal transports – how to do them safe and easy Ola Andersson: Cord Clamping, 1.0 and 2.0 Ravi Pat

We have become >7000!

I just realized that the 99nicu community has grown to >7000 members. An amazing number for an independent grass-rotish project, that aims to create a virtual space for neonatal staff around the world. Naturally, there are members that registered more than 10 years ago who have completely forgotten about 99nicu. But still, we know that our newsletter is recieved by ~6200 members. Regardless of the exact number,  we have engaged a lot of people over the years, who have been conn

Big Thinking at the Dept of Brilliant Ideas

We are on important missions in the NICU. From time to time, we all sense the strong rewarding feeling that our work mattered a lot. I love the hands-on work in the NICU, but I also believe strongly in pursuing work at the meta-level of things. That we can change care and improve outcomes through research, quality improvement, and taking our professionalism outside the box. And to the web! Naturally, the 99nicu “global village” is one of those meta-level journeys for me. I have shared

the Global Village(-s) of Neonatology

I must admit that it is a bit exciting to think about that 99nicu.org went live 12 years ago, at a time when Facebook and other “social media” web sites was yet to be invented. (@Zuckerberg, no offense here. Obviously, you created something far greater than 99nicu, still a grass rot project. BTW – could we apply for funding from you Foundation?) When starting 99nicu.org in 2006, we nourished an idea that experiences and expertise should not be hindered by geographical boundaries. In so

The World will come to Vienna!

As you know, our conference the Future of Neonatal care in Vienna is approaching! When we went through the registrations yesterday, it struck us that delegates will come from all corners of the world. There are already delegates coming from 21 countries! Just to visualize, we marked the countries on the map below. It will be great to meet up with all of you coming! And, although we will represent many different context, I also believe it is a very good example of how a great diver

EBNEO lectures on Youtube!

The Society for Evidence-Based Neonatology (EBNEO) had its 4th International Conference in Hyderabad, India, last November. Although being baised, as the chairman of EBNEO, the conference was a huge success, thanks to that the EBNEO was held in association with Indian Association of Pediatrics Neonatology Chapter. Without the IAP/NEOCON committee led by Dr Srinivas Murki, we would not have managed to set this conference up, that counted many hundreds of national delegates from all regions of Ind

Mother Tongue by Rebekka Karijord - a record we all should listen to

Our every-day job is to meet parents and their preterm infants. We have our professionalism, skills and family-centered care strategies. But how do we understand the large gap those families need to bridge, and how parenthood evolves when a child arrives too early? For myself, music has always been important (even essential!) in my own reflections about wider scopes. When it comes to parenthood, I can strongly recommend the record Mother Tongue by Rebekka Karijord, a Norwegian composer and

Swedish Dads FTW!

The photographer Johan Bävman is touring around the world with a photo exhibition about "Swedish Dads". The exhibition shows fathers on parental leave.  Swedish newspapers recently wrote about the reactions in Sydney, Australia (see exhibition before 26/9).  A (female) columnist in Sydney Morning Herald referred to the exhibition like "porn for stressed moms". I wouldn't agree on that headline but the column itself is interesting, and the reasoning about how the society could/should become

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