Neurosurgery in Tromsø
The city of Tromsø - the Gateway to the Arctic - were used by the great polar explorers Nansen, Amundsen, Nordenskiöld, and Andree as a last station before exploring the arctic.
The Norwegian government established a university here in temporary facilities in 1972. Many young people from the universities in southern Norway moved north to participate in this enterprise and soon a new, innovative and powerful academic institution was in full function.
During the first years, neurosurgery was taught by neurologists and surgeons. In 1985, Alf Tysvær (1937 2001) was recruited as a neurosurgeon. The following year Jens Hugo Trumpy, an experienced neurosurgeon at Ullevål Hospital in Oslo and then at the age of 60 years, joined the team. A neurosurgical department was established and Trumpy was offered a permanent position as head of the department. Somewhat later he also became professor of neurosurgery at the University of Tromsø.
Trumpy remained as the only board-certified neurosurgeon for some time, but he had a superb capacity to recruit young talents and well before he retired at the age of 72 (in 1998) department positions were filled by young and competent board certified neurosurgeons.
Tromsø, located at 69.7° and 300 km north of the Arctic Circle has the northernmost university and neurosurgical department in the world. The only other arctic department is in Murmansk, Russia (69.0° N - the departments in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Anchorage, Alaska, are located at 64.1° and 61.2°N, respectively).
Following Trumpy, Tor Ingebrigtsen former resident in the department took over as chairman and professor. When Ingebrigtsen became president of the university hospital, Roar Kloster followed him as chairman.
The neurosurgical department in Tromsø has proven to give high-quality neurosurgical service to the population of Nothern Norway and and has provided a large number of academic publications to the international neurosurgical literature.
The Norwegian government established a university here in temporary facilities in 1972. Many young people from the universities in southern Norway moved north to participate in this enterprise and soon a new, innovative and powerful academic institution was in full function.
During the first years, neurosurgery was taught by neurologists and surgeons. In 1985, Alf Tysvær (1937 2001) was recruited as a neurosurgeon. The following year Jens Hugo Trumpy, an experienced neurosurgeon at Ullevål Hospital in Oslo and then at the age of 60 years, joined the team. A neurosurgical department was established and Trumpy was offered a permanent position as head of the department. Somewhat later he also became professor of neurosurgery at the University of Tromsø.
Trumpy remained as the only board-certified neurosurgeon for some time, but he had a superb capacity to recruit young talents and well before he retired at the age of 72 (in 1998) department positions were filled by young and competent board certified neurosurgeons.
Tromsø, located at 69.7° and 300 km north of the Arctic Circle has the northernmost university and neurosurgical department in the world. The only other arctic department is in Murmansk, Russia (69.0° N - the departments in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Anchorage, Alaska, are located at 64.1° and 61.2°N, respectively).
Following Trumpy, Tor Ingebrigtsen former resident in the department took over as chairman and professor. When Ingebrigtsen became president of the university hospital, Roar Kloster followed him as chairman.
The neurosurgical department in Tromsø has proven to give high-quality neurosurgical service to the population of Nothern Norway and and has provided a large number of academic publications to the international neurosurgical literature.