Mats Brännström completed his MD in 1985 and a PhD in Physiology in 1988. After residency training in Obstetrics and Gynecology, he subspecialized in Gynecological Oncology and in recent years also in Reproductive Medicine. His main research interest for the first half of his scientific career was basic ovarian physiology and clinical conditions associated to ovarian disorders. Professor Brännström has published around 150 scientific papers on related topics such as mechanisms of ovulation, PCOS, OHSS and ovarian cancer. During the last two decades, Mats Brännström has continued with ovarian research but has also opened up a research line on uterus transplantation, towards a treatment for absolute uterine factor infertility. Brännström is today regarded as the pioneer of uterus transplantation. In 2002 his group demonstrated for the first time ever live births in a uterus transplantation animal (mouse) model. By a systematic, translational approach, including two rodent species, two large domestic species as well as non-human primates, Brännström and his team was able to optimize uterus transplantation towards human trials. In 2013 Brännström and his team conducted the first clinical trial of uterus transplantation, including nine live donor uterus transplantation procedures. Nine women underwent uterus transplantation and the world´s first live birth after this procedure took place in Sweden in September 2014. Totally nine babies were born from this initial uterus transplantation trial. Subsequent clinical trials have involved introduction of robotic-assisted surgery in uterus transplantation. Today almost 90 uterus transplantation procedures have been performed worldwide and with around 50 babies born. Successful transplants have occurred in more than 10 centres in four continents. The Swedish team have been involved in training and surgery at most of the centres. Brännström was a founding member and the first president of the International Society of Uterus Transplantation (ISUTx) and is now the registry chair of the international ISUTX registry, which collects worldwide data on uterus transplantations and outcomes. Professor Brännström is the author of a round 250 research papers and 150 review articles. His articles have been cited more than 12,000 times.
