Dr. Geirmund Unsgård
Professor and Chief of NeurosurgeryUniversity Hospital of Trondheim
Trondheim
NORWAY
Geirmund Unsgård was born in 1948 and grew up in a valley in the middle part of Norway. He finished his medical education at The University of Oslo in 1974. He earned his PhD in 1979 at The University of Trondheim, and then started to specialize in brain surgery. He worked at the young university department of neurosurgery in Trondheim, where he built up research activities and developed clinical activities. Since 1989 he has been the professor, and since 1996 the chief to the Neurosurgical Department at The University Hospital of Trondheim. This unit is now the second largest neurosurgical unit in Norway.
Professor Geirmund Unsgård has been entrusted with different leading positions in National, Scandinavian and European neurosurgical organizations.
Professor Geirmund Unsgård was dean of the Medical Faculty at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology from 1993 to 1998. During that period the number of students was increased threefold and the study model was changed from traditional lecturing model to a modern PBL-based curriculum with some education in local hospitals and general practice as well as a compulsory research paper.
During that period the plans for a new university hospital in Trondheim were generated. This hospital is now in the process of being built.
Professor Geirmund Unsgård has been doing research, both in cell-biology and in medical technology. His PhD was on cellular immunology and tumor immunology. During his training in brain-surgery he established and was in charge of a laboratory for research on brain tumors. Later he established a group for research on using MR-technology (imaging, spectroscopy) to study cell metabolism and tissue changes in cerebral ischemia. His research activity in the last 5 years has focused on using 3-dimensional ultrasound to guide brain operations. He has published 105 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals.
Due to his research activity he was appointed member of The Norwegian Royal and Scientific Society in 1998 and of The Norwegian Academy of Technology and Sciences in 1999.
Geirmund Unsgård was born in a political family; his father was a member of the Norwegian parliament for many years. He has inherited his father's interest in politics. He was a member of the city council in Trondheim from 1987 until 1994, where he and his family then moved to a farm outside the city.
He has been appointed by The National Health Department to sit in different committees working toward restructuring the Norwegian hospital system. He has also taken initiatives and been appointed to positions dealing with restructuring of the training and education of medical specialists in Norway.
Institute for International Medical Education.
Unauthorized reproduction strictly prohibited.