Svein I. Johannessen

Two weeks after joining us in Madrid for the 17th edition of the Eilat Conference on New Antiepileptic Drugs (EILAT XVII), of which he was a founding member, Svein I. Johannessen passed away peacefully in Oslo, Norway, the city where he was born and where he lived throughout his whole life.

Svein Johannessen studied at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Oslo and received his MSs degree in biochemistry in 1968. One year earlier he married his beloved Merethe, with whom he was together for 65 years, until she sadly passed away in November 2023.  In 1968 he was asked to build up the laboratory of Biochemistry and Clinical Pharmacology at the National Center for Epilepsy in Sandvika, just outside of Oslo. Soon after taking up this assignment, he developed a keen interest in investigating the pharmacokinetics of antiseizure medications (ASMs), and in promoting the use of monitoring plasma ASM levels as a tool to improve individualization of dose and clinical outcome in patients with epilepsy. He worked at the Sandvika Epilepsy Center until 2004, first as  a Head of the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology and later also as Director of Research at the Center. In 1982 he earned a PhD degree from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Oslo, with Yngve Løyning as his mentor. The topic of his PhD thesis was on the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) of Antiepileptic Drugs (AEDs).

Svein Johannessen’s scientific contribution over more than 50 years of active research covered a wide range of topics related to the clinical pharmacology of ASMs, with special reference to the pharmacokinetics, drug interactions and adverse effects. He was one of the pioneers of TDM applied to clinical epileptology, which started to develop broadly in the late sixties. He was a key member of the Workshops on the Determination of Antiepileptic Drugs in Body Fluids (WODADIBOF), which were organized by a collaborative group of researchers on TDM of ASMs. Four WODADIBOF meetings were held between 1972 and 1979, and the last of those was hosted by Dr. Johannessen in Sandvika. These workshops played a key role in nurturing a new generation of researchers dedicated to investigating the clinical pharmacology of ASMs. Publication of the WODADIBOF proceedings also proved to be highly influential in educating physicians on how to use TDM in the everyday clinical care of people with epilepsy. In recognition of his work, Dr. Johannessen received the ILAE-IBE Ambassador for Epilepsy Award in 1982. Since the early 70s, he was very involved in ILAE activities. He was the chair of ILAE-Europe (then Commission of European Affairs) between 2001-2005, and the Chair of the Organizing and Scientific Committee of the 20th International Epilepsy Congress that was held in Oslo in 1993. In addition to being a founding member of the EILAT Conferences, Dr. Johannessen was Chair of the Organizing Committee of the nine EILAT International Educational Conferences on the Pharmacological Treatment of Epilepsy that took place between 2005-2022.

On a personal level, Svein was a "prince of a man," uniquely kind and generous. It was a great privilege for us to have known him, and to have collaborated with him for over 40 years. He is survived by his two daughters, Cecilie and Charlotte, his son-in-law Ivar, and his two granddaughters, Marthe and Thea, all of whom were close to him with their love up to his very last moment. He will be sorely missed.

Meir Bialer (Israel), Emilio Perucca (Australia), Torbjörn Tomson (Sweden)