Torbjörn Bäckström is a senior professor at the Department of Clinical Science, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Umeå University as well as head of the Umeå Neurosteroid Research Center, His focus of research since 1972 is the effect of sex and stress hormones on the brain and on the GABA system, and conditions induced by these hormones. He has published more than 400 scientific publications within this area, and he is a frequently invited keynote speaker at scientific meetings around the world.