Obituary
Kristian Thestrup-Pedersen 1943 – 2016
Born July 6 , 1943 Died October 17 , 2016
A great man is no longer among us
Kristian graduated from Aarhus University in 1971 . The first year of medicine he used to improve his skills in immunology at the University of Aarhus and this interest followed him for life . In 1975 , he received a one-year research scholarship at Yale University in New Haven , USA . After the theoretical studies , he was employed for a period of Department of Infectious Diseases and later Dermatology and Venereology at Marselisborg Hospital in Aarhus , and he obtained the medical doctorate in 1978 . Dermatology won his interest and heart , and after employment at Marselisborg Hospital and Finsen Institute in Copenhagen , he became a specialist in 1982 .
Kristian became a consultant at the Department of Dermatology , Marselisborg Hospital in 1984 , and in 1987 he was appointed Professor and remained in that position until 2003 . In two periods : 1998 – 2000 and 2003 – 2005 Kristian was Visiting Professor at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh , Saudi Arabia , while he was still at Aarhus University as a professor in the first period and adjunct professor in the final period . The last 10 years of his working life he established himself as a practicing specialist in dermatology in Nykøbing 2005 – 2015 .
Kristian had an amazing ability to believe in young people and their skills while giving them a loving nudge forward . It was expected that they were diligent , but if the experiments in the laboratory did not go so well for a period , you could always seek encouragement and inspiration .
Patients also had great confidence in him , and they were always listened to and treated carefully and professionally competent .
Kristian was known for his international outlook and had many foreign contacts . This is underlined by the fact that he was a member of the Danish , Finnish , Swedish , Polish , French and German Dermatological Societies and an honorary member of the Japanese Dermatological Society . He was also a board member of the International League of Dermatological Societies ( ILDS ) in the period 1997 – 2011 . In 2000 , Kristian was appointed Knight of Dannebrog for his great professional efforts .
Kristian was a “ lighthouse ” in Danish dermatology . He was the prime mover as a writer and editor for the Danish textbook “ Clinical Dermatology and Venereology ” until 2012 .
Kristian ’ s primary academic interests were atopic eczema , contact dermatitis and cutaneous lymphomas . Within these areas , he has contributed ground-breaking clinical and experimental research and has authored more than 240 scientific articles . He was incredibly diligent and member of the editorial boards of several scientific journals .
In the late 1990ies , Kristian became one of the Section Editors of ActaDV and served as such for almost 15 years . During this time he was of invaluable help for the journal , writing many editorials and commentaries in addition to peer-reviewing a great number of scientific papers .
Forum for Nord Derm Ven 2016 , Vol . 21 , No . 4 115