[1] Jan Sundell was born and grew up in Östersund, in the northern Swedish province of Jämtland.

He worked at the National Board of Urban Planning and Building and the National Board of Occupational Safety and Health, where he was Head of section for Ventilation and Thermal Climate.

In 1994 he defended his PhD-thesis in medical sciences at Karolinska Institutet.

Both as a scientist and a government official he was a driving force in developing the research area of Indoor Air.

He initiated and took active part in large national and international studies like the Dampness in Buildings and Health (DBH) in Sweden where the same concept later on have been used in Bulgaria, Denmark, USA, Singapore, Taiwan, and China, as well as the SELMA-study (Swedish Environmental Longitudinal, Mother and child, Asthma and allergy study).