Nils Johansson was born in Sweden. Johansson emigrated to the United States where he became a doctor. In 1910 he established the Swedish Hospital in Seattle.

Funded with loans from ten Swedish immigrants, the non-profit Swedish Hospital started with 24 beds. Johansson ran the hospital for its first forty years and is now one of the largest in the United States with nearly 4,000 employees. The hospital covers 13 city blocks and serves around 600,000 patients each year.