24.05.2016: Purposeful, efficient and responsive – that describes the current president of the Norwegian Medical Association in a nutshell. Whether by nature or nurture, we will never know. She arrives on time, of course. She asks discreetly for the table she has booked and utters a polite «thank you» when shown to the table where we will share a meal and talk about her position as president of the Norwegian Medical Association. She describes herself as a good planner, but immediately adds that she had never planned to occupy the top position in the Norwegian Medical Association’s system of elected...

09.12.2014: He was born at the old Maternity Clinic. Later on he walked the hospital corridors as a porter and medical student, before he eventually ended up as the Hospital Director. Oslo University Hospital – Rikshospitalet has played a major part in the life of Professor emeritus Jacob B. Natvig. These days, he goes there for his annual coronary check-ups. «A man who cannot make a mistake, cannot make anything» is a maxime that has accompanied the 80-year-old throughout a long and more than averagely active career. «I believe we need to be willing to live with a degree of uncertainty,» he says...

18.10.2011: His name is Unni. He learned already in the day-care centre that this is a girl’s name in this country. Now, little Unni has grown up. He represents 1.2 million medical students, and he hangs out at the WHO. – Six years of medical studies shapes your personality, says Unni. He has only completed four of them so far, but with two years on leave. He has been shaped. In lower and upper secondary school he was never the class representative, and he did not like to speak in front of the other students. Now he represents the international association of medical students (IFMSA) in The World Health...