Researcher blogs

Written by Nicole Wild, PhD student at Karolinska Institutet and participant of the course “Career Skills for Scientists” during the autumn term 2025.

For Eeva Broberg, a career in virology at an international public health organization was far from straightforward. An influenza pandemic opened unexpected doors, becoming the catalyst for a long and fulfilling profession.

After finishing high school in Finland in 1993, Eeva enrolled at Åbo Akademi, the Swedish-speaking university in Turku, studying biochemistry. Her first thesis work focused on neuroscience techniques, but when her professor Karl Åkerman relocated his lab to Uppsala, Eeva faced her first big career decision: follow or stay. She chose to remain in Turku but struggled to find other interesting master thesis position at the biochemistry department of Åbo Akademi.

“I was hitting the wall”, she says, but this also pushed her to start thinking about other possibilities. She decided to continue her education at the Finnish-speaking University of Turku. Switching universities meant adding an extra year of coursework to finish her master’s degree. “That felt a bit harsh, it’s the same university system, in the same country, even in the same city, and the same subject – biochemistry. But I took that step. Never mind one year, I will only learn more.” In hindsight, it became a fortunate detour – one that introduced her to the field of virology.

Entering the World of Virology

During her studies at the University of Turku, a course in molecular virology sparked her interest, leading to a master’s project on herpes viruses. This became the foundation for her PhD, which she pursued under docent Veijo Hukkanen at the University of Turku. Alongside her doctoral research, her supervisor encouraged Eeva to continue learning and to join the viral diagnostic services. There, Eeva gained hands-on experience with virus culture, PCR assay development, and national-level diagnostic service. She defended her thesis in 2004, all while balancing early family life.

Still deeply committed to research, she transitioned briefly into industry with a job at Orion Pharma, contributing to neurological drug development in animal models. Here, she could make use of her previous knowledge of animal models and multiple sclerosis research from her first master thesis project. Yet virology called her back. A postdoctoral fellowship in Boston, in Professor David Knipe’s herpes virology lab at Harvard, marked an intense period of scientific growth. “The lab atmosphere was fantastic with all the support of the colleagues,” she recalls. After one and half years, with twins on the way, the family decided to return to their home country in 2007.

Back in Finland, Eeva started her second postdoc, this time focusing on rhinoviruses, marking her shift to respiratory viruses. At the same time, she was managing parts of the diagnostics department at the University of Turku. When the swine flu pandemic struck in 2009, she was tasked with rapidly expanding the department’s diagnostic capacity and, while searching for information online, she discovered the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). “I apparently didn’t find what I was looking for regarding influenza, but I found an interesting job offer for a virologist”. It was a rare opening, and she applied. “I wasn’t an epidemiologist, but they were looking for someone who could bridge the gap between epidemiologists and virologists,” she explains.

Connecting Laboratories and Epidemiology

In 2010, she joined the ECDC in Stockholm. Her first role was coordinating the Community Network of Reference Laboratories for human influenza (which later became European Reference Laboratory Network for Human Influenza (ERLI-Net)), bringing together national influenza centers to harmonize diagnostics, share data, and develop standards. It was a steep learning curve: “I had no prior experience with large-scale surveillance data, but it was logical, and I learned quickly.” For eight years, she coordinated the laboratory network and worked on influenza surveillance, contributing to weekly European reports and supporting laboratories across the EU and EEA countries.

Pandemic Lessons: Collaboration and Preparation

Eeva’s work later expanded to cross-cutting microbiology initiatives, including external quality assessment coordination across the pathogen topics of ECDC, laboratory trainings, and the development of genomic surveillance strategies. When the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic hit in 2020, she joined the response team. Initially it was just her and a colleague focusing on laboratory matters but soon nearly the entire ECDC staff was involved. Eeva was coordinating urgent questions around diagnostics, sampling, and test validation. “It was a very tough time,” she says. “The workload was enormous, but the collaboration across Europe was inspiring.” Many lessons were learned, yet Eeva is convinced the recent pandemic will not be the last. Having worked at ECDC through two global outbreaks, both arriving from unexpected directions, she believes the next pandemic is not a matter of if, but when. 

Today, Eeva is back in respiratory virus surveillance at ECDC, covering influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and respiratory syncytial virus. She also coordinates laboratory support activities, contributes to EU-wide laboratory preparedness projects and the rollout of new EU reference laboratories. Sixteen years on, she continues to bring energy and passion to every aspect of her work at ECDC.