Hakon Leffler received his MD and Ph.D. in Medicine, Chemistry, Mathematics from the University of Gothenburg (1967–1981). He is an expert in glycobiology and immunology. He serves as a professor at the Division of Microbiology, Immunology and Glycobiology at Lund University, Sweden. He was among the first discoverers of the galectin family of proteins during his tenure at the University of California, San Francisco.