Sæmundur completed his medical studies at the University of Iceland in the fall of 2017, but his scientific career began in 2016 when he began his doctorate under the supervision of Sigurður Yngvi Kristinsson, a hematologist and professor. Since then, Sæmundur has worked closely with Sigurður and other colleagues in the study Blood Screening for Salvation, a population-based screening study in Iceland with the aim of exploring the potential benefits of screening for monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), a precursor to multiple myeloma and related cancers.

Sæmundur defended his doctoral thesis “Good-looking monoclonal hyperantibody?” on the clinical importance of MGUS in October 2022. After his doctoral graduation, he has continued as part of the research team Blóðskimun til bjargar, but also focused on investigating the origin of MGUS and thus the onset of these cancers and the relationship between MGUS and various non-cancerous diseases.

Sæmundur recently received a project grant from Rannís to investigate the relationship between MGUS and other diseases, and he now receives an incentive grant from the National University Hospital Science Fund to start researching cells in the surrounding environment of MGUS cancer cells.

As a clinical physician, Sæmundur has worked in many different countries but is now primarily a specialty medical student at Landspítali University Hospital. He has been active in teaching at the Faculty of Medicine at HÍ and is now the supervising teacher of research projects for medical students, as well as having guided a number of BSc and MSc students in medical sciences.

As a teacher, doctor and researcher, Sæmundur places great emphasis on the integration of clinical practice and science and believes in the usefulness and synergies that lie in using and creating new knowledge at the same time.

Here you can see an interview that was conducted with Sæmundur for the occasion of the honor.