Professor Lars-Åke Hanson, Gothenburg, Sweden, passed away in January 2022 at the age of 87 years. He was known to all as Nenne.

Nenne worked during most of his career as professor of clinical immunology in Gothenburg. He was the first to set up care for children and adults with inborn errors of immunity in Sweden. Immunology was his great interest clinically and as a researcher.

Those of us who had the privilege to work close to him and have him as a mentor remember him for his enthusiasm and never-failing optimism. A great scientist with over 400 scientific papers, many textbook chapters, and an eminent lecturer, but not least a close friend, mentor, and role model. He had a large international network. Whenever one of his friends came to Gothenburg, the doors to his and Monika’s beautiful apartment in central Gothenburg were open for the guest. Those of us working with him in Gothenburg were also frequently invited for food and stimulating discussions.

In 1961, Nenne received his MD from the University of Gothenburg. The same year, he defended his PhD thesis on his studies of human breast milk in an exploration of components that might be responsible in addition to nutrition for the baby’s health and development. He discovered immunoglobulin A (IgA) in breast milk, but also observed that it had some extra antigenicity that later was shown to be the secretory piece. IgA was at that time known as β2A, only later in 1964 to be named IgA. In 1962, during a sabbatical and further training at Rockefeller University in Henry Kunkel’s laboratory, IgA deficiency was discovered accidently in serum by Nenne and a co-fellow. At that time, case reports often contained the name or initials of the subject, and interestingly the two scrambled their initials not to be recognized as the persons described in the report.

In 1978, Nenne became the first Professor of Clinical Immunology in Sweden. His ambition to make practice of immunology brought him out in the world. Examples are collaborations with Pakistan and Costa Rica. Especially, the ties to Costa Rica made him aware of the country’s unique position in Latin America, and Nenne was behind the nomination of President Oscar Arias for the Nobel Peace Prize that Oscar Arias received in 1987.

He also showed how breastfeeding protected newborns against infections, especially diarrhea and urinary tract infections, and consequently considerably reduced morbidity and mortality. Nenne met with Pope John Paul II, appealed for, and received papal pronunciation in support of breastfeeding. Nenne’s research gained him a large number of international and national prizes, among them are the Robert Koch Award of the German Robert Koch Foundation in 1981, Anders Jahre’s Award for Medical Research of the University of Oslo in 1988, and the Macy György Award of the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) in 2004.

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