Jan Apelqvist was born in Norrland, Sweden, on 20 January 1954. He graduated in Medicine in 1979 from the University of Umeå and specialised in Internal Medicine in 1985 at Lund University, where he also obtained his PhD in 1990, defending a thesis on prognostic factors in the diabetic foot.

In 1995, he was appointed Associate Professor in the Division of Clinical Sciences at Lund University. From 2000, he held a position as Associate Professor of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Malmö University Hospital, where he established and led Sweden’s first multidisciplinary diabetic foot centre. In 2003, he was appointed Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the same hospital.

Jan Apelqvist published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, as well as book chapters and consensus documents. His work addressed not only the clinical aspects of diabetic foot disease, but also its social, economic and organisational implications.

He was one of the founders of the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot (IWGDF) and contributed to the writing of all editions of its international guidelines since their first publication in 1999. He was also a key contributor to the EURODIALE Study and was responsible for the socio-economic analysis of the data collected by the study.

He served as a Council member of EWMA from 2008 to 2015, including as EWMA President from 2011 to 2013.

Among many honours, he received the Roger Pecoraro Scientific Award from the American Diabetes Association in 1998, the Diabetic Foot Award in 1999, the Edward James Olmos Award for advocacy in amputation prevention in 2012, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Diabetic Foot Study Group (DFSG) in 2016.

Jan Apelqvist passed away in Malmö on 22 June 2026. He is leaving behind his beloved wife, Laila