Professor Emeritus
University of Helsinki
Helsinki Finland
Nils-Erik Leo Saris was a leading medical chemist devoted to academic excellence and scientific inquiry. He served as a Swedish-language professor of medical chemistry at the Faculty of Medicine and became the second vice-rector at the University of Helsinki.
Saris held pivotal roles as a research assistant at the Biochemical Research Institute (1953-1956), hospital chemist at Aurora Hospital (1956-1965), and chief chemist at Helsinki University Central Hospital (1966-1972). Obtaining his Ph.D. in 1964, Saris became a docent in biochemistry at the University of Helsinki in 1969.
His mitochondrial and calcium ion transport research was crucial in establishing Finnish bioenergetics as internationally recognized. He was Finland’s representative on the IUPAC Committee for the Biological-Chemical Section (1964-1968). Saris received an honorary doctorate in medicine and surgery from the University of Helsinki in 1990 and the inaugural Saris Prize in 1995, named after him.
Additionally, Saris collaborated with Geir Bjørklund on the Nordic Journal of Biological Medicine (Nordisk Tidsskrift for Biologisk Medisin), a precursor to the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine.
Obituary (University of Helsinki)