Background
Margareta Böttiger was born Hanna Margareta Westerlund on July 29, 1927, in Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden to the family of Olle Westerlund and Rut Sohlman.
Karolinska Institute, Solna, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Margareta Böttiger received her Doctor of Medicine degree at Karolinska Institute in 1954. She became a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine, again at Karolinska Institute in 1966.
Lyceum for girls, Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden
Margareta Böttiger studied at the Lyceum for girls in Stockholm graduating in 1946.
Margareta Böttiger was born Hanna Margareta Westerlund on July 29, 1927, in Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden to the family of Olle Westerlund and Rut Sohlman.
Margareta Böttiger studied at the Lyceum for girls in Stockholm graduating in 1946. She received her Doctor of Medicine degree at Karolinska Institute in 1954. She became a Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine, again at Karolinska Institute in 1966.
Margareta Böttiger was appointed a post at the Swedish National Bacteriology Laboratory in 1957. In 1966 she became a lecturer at Karolinska Institute. She conducted research service at the Medical Research Council 1967-1971 for mapping the polio protection in the Swedish population. The years 1976-1993 Böttiger succeeded Professor Bo Zetterberg as the head of the Department of Epidemiology at the Swedish National Bacteriology Laboratory, which marked her becoming a State Epidemiologist. She retired in 1993. After retirement, as a Professor Emerita, she was internationally active in research for a long time, also with assignments, among others, as a commissioner within the World Health Organisation for monitoring the disease prevention in Europe, from Greenland to Russia's border in the east.
Böttiger became one of the driving advocates of Sweden's development, selection, and adherence to domestically produced inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) instead of living attenuated oral polio vaccine (OPV). In connection with hepatitis among gay men, Böttiger was among those who initiated what then became Venhälsan in Södersjukhuset, Stockholm. As HIV/AIDS spread throughout the world, she came to put great focus and much commitment to epidemiology and the fight against this infection as, among other things, a member of the AIDS delegation. Böttiger made a number of appearances and articles with enlightenment and fieldwork extensive injecting drug users as well as people at increased risk of infection via sexual contacts and thus also a general work against sexually transmitted diseases (STD/STI).
Margareta Böttiger married a professor of medicine Lars Erik Böttiger in 1948. They have three children: Blenda, Disa, and Ylva.